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LIBRARY OF THE 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 


B 


F831 
1925 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY 
OF 


BENJAMIN 
FRANKLIN 


| Edited by 
_ FRANK WOODWORTH PINE 


GaRDEN CIiTy © New York 
GARDEN CITY PUBLISHING COMPANY 
1925 


CopyRriGHT, 1916, BY 
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 


PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 


INTRODUCTION ‘be 


There are other reasons why the Autobiogra- 
phy should be an intimate friend of American 
young people. Here they may establish a close 
relationship with one of the foremost Ameri- 
cans as well as one of the wisest men of his age. 

The life of Benjamin Franklin is of impor- 
tance to every American primarily because of the 
part he played in securing the independence of 
the United States and in establishing it as a 
nation. Franklin shares with Washington the 
honors of the Revolution, and of the events lead- 
ing to the birth of the new nation. While 
Washington was the animating spirit of the 
struggle in the colonies, Franklin was its.ablest _ 
champion abroad. To Franklin’s cogent rea- 
soning and keen satire, we owe the clear and 
forcible presentation of the American case in 
England and France; while to his personality 
and diplomacy as well as to his facile pen, we 
‘are indebted for the foreign alliance and the 
funds without which Washington’s work must 
have failed. His patience, fortitude, and prac- 
tical wisdom, coupled with self-sacrificing devo- 
tion to the Hopes his. country, are hardly less 
noticeable than similar qualities displayed by 
Washington. In fact, Franklin as a public man 
was much like Washington, especially in the en- 
tire disinterestedness of his public service. 


x ct INTRODUCTION 


Franklin is also interesting to us because by 
his life and teachings he has done more than any 
other American to advance the material pros- 
perity of his countrymen. It is said that his 
widely and faithfully read maxims made Phila- 
delphia and Pennsylvania wealthy, while Poor 
Richard’s pithy sayings, translated into many 
languages, have had a world-wide influence. 

Franklin is a good type of our American man- 
hood. Although not the wealthiest or the most 
powerful, he is undoubtedly, in the versatility 
of his genius and achievements, the greatest of | 
our self-made men. The simple yet graphic 
story in the Autobiography of his steady rise 
from humble boyhood in a tallow-chandler shop, 
by industry, economy, and perseverance in self- 
improvement, to eminence, is the most remark- 
able of all the remarkable histories of our self- 
made men. It is in itself a wonderful illustra- 
tion of the results possible to be attained in a 
land of unequaled opportunity by ae nes 
Franklin’s maxims. 

Franklin’s fame, however, was not confined to 
his own country. Although he lived in a cen- 
tury notable for the rapid evolution of scientific 
and political thought and activity, yet no less a 
keen judge and critic than Lord Jeffrey, the 
famous editor of the Edinburgh Review, a cen- 


INTRODUCTION 


éé 


tury ago said that “in one point of view the 
name of Franklin must be considered as stand- 
ing higher than any of the others which illus- 
trated the eighteenth century. Distinguished 
as a statesman, he was equally great as a_phi- 
losopher, thus uniting in himself a rare degree 
of excellence in both these pursuits, to excel in 
either of which is deemed the highest praise.” 
Franklin has indeed been aptly called “ many- 
sided.” He was eminent in science and public 
service, in diplomacy and in literature. He was 
the Edison of his day, turning his scientific dis- 
coveries to the benefit of his fellow-men. He 
perceived the identity of lightning and elec- 
tricity and set up the lightning rod. He in- 
vented the Franklin stove, still widely used, and 
refused to patent it. He possessed a masterly 
shrewdness in business and practical” affairs. 
Carlyle called him the father of all the Yankees. 
He founded a fire company, assisted in founding 
a hospital, and improved the cleaning and light- 
ing of streets.. He developed journalism, estab- 
lished the American Philosophical Society, the 
public library in Philadelphia, and the Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania. He organized a postal 
system for the colonies, which was the basis of 
the » present_ United States Post Office. Bancroft, 
the eminent historian, called him ‘ ‘the greatest 


INTRODUCTION 


diplomatist of his century.” He perfected the 
Albany Plan of Union for the colonies. He is 
the _only statesman who signed the Declaration 
of Tndependence, the Treaty of Alliance with _ 
France, the Treaty of Peace with England, and 
the Constitution.. As a writer, he has produced, 
in his Autobiography and in Poor Richard's 
Almanac, two works that are not surpassed by 
similar writing. He received honorary degrees 
from Harvard and Yale, from Oxford and St. 
Andrews, and was made a fellow of the Royal 
Society, which awarded him the Copley gold 
medal for improving natural knowledge. He 
was one of the eight foreign associates of the 
French Academy of Science. . 

The careful study of the Autobiography is also 
valuable because of the style in which it is 
written. If Robert Louis Stevenson is right in 
believing that his remarkable style was acquired 
by imitation then the youth who would gain the 
power to express his ideas clearly, forcibly, and 
interestingly cannot do better than to study 
Franklin’s method. Franklin’s fame in the 
scientific world was due almost as much to his 
modest, simple, and sincere manner of present- 
ing his discoveries and to the precision and 
clearness of the style in which he described his 
experiments, as to the results he was able to 


PN ROU CTO N hagas xiil 


announce. Sir Humphry Davy, the celebrated 
English chemist, himself an excellent literary 
critic as well as a great scientist, said: ‘ A-sin- 
gular felicity guided all Franklin’s researches, 
and by very small means he established very 
grand truths. The style and manner of his pub- 
lication on electricity are almost as worthy of 
admiration as the doctrine it contains.” 

Franklin’s place in literature is hard to deter- 
mine because he was not primarily a literary 
man. His aim in his writings as in his life work 
was to be helpful to his fellow-men. For him 
writing was never an end in itself, but always a 
means to anend. Yet his success as a scientist, 
a statesman, and a diplomat, as well as socially, 
was in no little part due to his ability as a 
writer. “ His letters charmed all, and made his 
correspondence eagerly sought. His political 
arguments were the joy of his party, and the 
dread of his opponents. His scientific discov- 
eries were explained in language at once so sim- 
ple and so clear that plow-boy and exquisite 
could follow his thought or his experiment to its 
conclusion.” * | 

As far as American literature is concerned, 
Franklin has no contemporaries. Before the 
Autobiography only one literary work of impor- 

1 The Many-Sided Franklin. Paul L. Ford. 


xiv INTRODUCTION 


tance had been produced in this country—Cot- 
ton Mather’s Magnalia, a church history of New 
England in a ponderous, stiff style. Franklin 
was the first American author to gain a wide 
and permanent reputation in Europe. ‘The 
Autobiography, Poor Richard, Father Abraham’s 
Speech or The Way to Wealth, as well as some 
of the Bagatelles, are as widely known abroad 
as any American writings. Franklin must also 
be classed as the first American humorist. — 
English literature of the eighteenth century 
was characterized by the development of prose. 
Periodical literature reached its perfection early 
in the century in The Tatler and The Spectator 
of Addison and Steele. Pamphleteers flourished 
throughout the period. The homelier prose of 
Bunyan and Defoe gradually gave place to the 
more elegant and artificial language of Samuel 
Johnson, who set the standard for prose writing 
from 1745 onward. This century saw the be- 
ginnings of the modern novel, in Fielding’s Tom 
Jones, Richardson’s Clarissa Harlowe, Sterne’s 
Tristram Shandy, and Goldsmith’s Vicar of 
Wakefield... Gibbon wrote The Decline and Fall 
of the Roman Empire, Hume his History of Eng- 
land, and Adam Smith the Wealth of Nations. 
In the simplicity and vigor of his style Frank- 
lin more nearly resembles the earlier group of 


INTRODUCTION xv 


writers. In his first essays he was not an in- 
ferior imitator of Addison. In his numerous 
parables, moral allegories, and apologues he 
showed Bunyan’s influence. But Franklin was 
essentially a journalist. In his swift, terse style, 


he is most like Defoe, who was the first great 
English journalist and master of the newspaper 
narrative. The style of both writers is marked 
by homely, vigorous expression, satire, burlesque, 
repartee. Here the comparison must end. 
Defoe and his contemporaries were authors. 
Their vocation was writing and their success 
rests on the imaginative or creative power they 
displayed. To authorship Franklin laid no 
claim. He wrote no work of the imagination. 
He developed only incidentally a style in many 
respects as remarkable as that of his English 
contemporaries. He wrote the best autobiogra- 
phy in existence, one of the most widely known 
collections of maxims, and an unsurpassed 
series’ of political and social satires, because he 
was a man of unusual scope of power and use- 
fulness, who knew how to tell his fellow-men the 
secrets of that power and that usefulness. 


THE STORY OF THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


The account of how Franklin’s Autobiography 
came to be written and of the adventures of the 


VEG INTRODUCTION 


original manuscript forms in itself an interesting 
story. The Autobiography is Franklin’s longest 
work, and yet it is only a fragment.. The first 
part, written as a letter to his son, William 
Franklin, was not intended for publication; and 
the composition is more informal and the narra- 
tive more personal than in the second part, from 
1730 on, which was written with a view to pub- 
lication. The entire manuscript shows little 
evidence of revision. In fact, the expression is 
so homely and natural that his grandson, 
William Temple Franklin, in editing the work 
changed some of the phrases because he thought 
them inelegant and vulgar. \ 

Franklin began the story of his life while on 
a visit to his friend, Bishop Shipley, at Twyford, 
in Hampshire, southern England, in 1771. He 
took the manuscript, completed to 1731, with 
him when he returned to Philadelphia in 1775. 
It was left there with his other papers when he 
went to France in the following year, and dis- 
appeared during the confusion incident to the 
Revolution. Twenty-three pages of closely 
written manuscript fell into the hands of Abel 
James, an old friend, who sent a copy to Frank- 
lin at Passy, near Paris, urging him to complete 
the story. Franklin took up the work at Passy 
in 1784 and carried the narrative forward a few 


INTRODUCTION XVil 


months. He changed the plan to meet his new 
‘purpose of writing to benefit the young reader. 
His. work was soon interrupted and was not re- 
sumed until 1788, when he was at home in Phila- 
delphia. He was now old, infirm, and suffering, 
and was still engaged in public service. Under 
these discouraging conditions the work pro- 
gressed slowly. It finally stopped when the 
narrative reached the year 1757. Copies of the 
manuscript were sent to friends of Franklin in 
England and France, among others to Monsieur 
Le Veillard at Paris. | | 
The first edition of the Autobiography was 
published in French at Paris in 1791. It was 
clumsily and carelessly translated, and was im- © 
perfect and unfinished. Where the translator 
got the manuscript is not known. Le Veillard 
disclaimed any knowledge of the publication. 
From this faulty French edition many others 
were printed, some in Germany, two in England, 
and another in France, so great was the demand 
for the work. 
_ In the meantime the original manuscript of 
the dutobiography had started on a varied and 
adventurous career. It was left by Franklin 
with his other works to his grandson, William 
Temple Franklin, whom Franklin designated as 
his literary executor. When Temple Franklin 


XVIii INTRODUCTION 


came to publish his grandfather’s works in 1817, 
he sent the original manuscript of the Autobiog- 
raphy to the daughter of Le Veillard in ex- 
change for her father’s copy, probably think- 
ing the clearer transcript would make better 
printer’s copy. The original manuscript thus 
found its way to the Le Veillard family and con- 
nections, where it remained until sold in 1867 
to Mr. John Bigelow, United States Minister to 
France. By him it was later sold to Mr. E. 
Dwight Church of New York, and passed with 
the rest of Mr. Church’s library into the posses- 
sion of Mr. Henry E. Huntington. The original 
manuscript of Franklin’s Autobiography now 
rests in the vault in Mr. Huntington’s residence 
at Fifth Avenue and Fifty-seventh Street, New 
York City. 

When Mr. Bigelow came to examine his pur- 
chase, he was astonished to find that what peo- 
ple had been reading for years as the authentic 
Tife of Benjamin Franklin by Himself, was only 
a garbled and incomplete version of the real 
Autobiography. Temple Franklin had taken un- 
warranted liberties with the original. Mr. Bige- 
low says he found more than twelve hundred 
changes in the text. In 1868, therefore, Mr. 
Bigelow published the standard edition of 
Franklin’s Autobiography. It corrected errors 


INTRODUCTION xix 


in the previous editions and was the first Eng- 
lish edition to contain the short fourth part, 
comprising the last few pages of the manuscript, 
written during the last year of Franklin’s life. 
Mr. Bigelow republished the Autobiography, 
with additional interesting matter, in three vol- 
umes in 1875, in 1905, and in 1910. The text in 
this volume is that of Mr. Bigelow’s editions.” 
The Autobiography has been reprinted in the 
United States many scores of times and trans- 
lated into all the languages of Europe. It has 
never lost its popularity and is still in constant 
demand at circulating libraries. The reason for 
this popularity is not far to seek. For in this 
work Franklin told in a remarkable manner the 
story of a remarkable life. He displayed hard 
common sense and a practical knowledge of the 
art of living. He selected and arranged his ma- 
terial, perhaps unconsciously, with the unerring 
instinct of the journalist for the best effects. 
His success is not a little due to his plain, clear, 
vigorous English. He used short sentences and 
words, homely expressions, apt illustrations, 
and pointed allusions. Franklin had a most in- 
teresting, varied, and unusual life. He was one 
of the greatest conversationalists of his time. 


1 ¥or the division into chapters and the chapter titles, however, the 
present editor is responsible. 


® 


a INTRODUCTION 


His book is the record of that unusual life told 
in Franklin's own unexcelled conversational 
style. It is said that the best parts of Boswell’s 
famous biography of Samuel Johnson are those 
parts where Boswell permits Johnson to tell his 
own story. In the Autobiography a no less re- 
markable man and talker than Samuel Johnson 
is telling his own story throughout. | 


THE GILMAN CoUNTRY ScHOOL, 
Baltimore, September, 1916. 


Numb. XL. 


To eee 


Pennfylvania 


GAZETTE. 


Containing the frefheft Advices Foreign and DomesStick.. 


From Thurfday, Scptember 25. 


to Thurfday, October 2. 1729. 


HE Pennfyltvania Gazette being now to 
bs carry’d on by other Hands, the Reader 
may oxpe? fome Account of the Method we 

acfigg to proceed ite 
Upon a View of Chambers’s great DiZionaries, 
from whence were taken the Materials of the 
Univerfal Inftru@or in all Arts and Sciences, 
whith sfually made the Firft Part of this Paper, 
we find that befides their containing many Things 
abfirufe or infignificant to us, i will probably 
be fifty Years before the Whole can be gone thro’ 
in this Manner of Publication. There ars like= 
wife in thofo Books continual References from 
Things under one Letter agen Alpbabet to thofe 
pons reigns which relate to ey fame Subjed, 
Gna are neceffury to explain an. $ iy 
theft taken st thebe ie sass aebivste Ten 


Years Bipowrsd 4 WUD J1BLe bo 9 bIKETy ewe 2B, — Lo 
oy ik to acquaint han thoes with any particular 
rt or Science, would gladly bave the whole be- 
i'fors then in a much defs Time, we believe our 
Readers will not think uch a Method of commu=- 
_wicating Knowledge to be a proper One. 
However, the’ we do not intend to continue the 
Publication of thofe Dittonaries in a regular 
Alpbabeties! Method, as bas hitherto been done; 
get as feveral Things exhibited from them sn the 
Courfe of thefe Papers, have been entertaining 
30 fuch of the Curious, who never bad and catie 
not have the Advantage of cood Libraries ; and 
as thers arc many Things fill bebind, which be- 
sng iu this Manner made generally known, may 
perbaps become of confiderable Ufe, by giving fuch 
Hints vo the excellent natural Genius’s of our 
Country, as may contribute either to the Ima 
provement of our prefeut ManufaGures, or tom 
wards the Invention of new Ones; we propofe 
from Time to Time to communicate fuch particu= 
Jar Parts as appear to be of the moft general 
wfequence, 
“4s to the Religious Courtthip, Part of 
which bas been retal’d to the Publick ix thefe 
Papers,, the Reader may be inform'd, that the 
whole Book will yrobably in a@ little Time be 
priuted and bound up by it.felf; and thofe who 
approve of it, will doubtlefs be better pleas'’d to 
bave it eutire, than in this broken interrupted 
Manner, 


There are many who have long defired to fee a 
godNews-Puper in Pennfylvania; avd we bope 
thofiGentlemen who are able, will contribute to~ 
warls the making This fuch. Weask Afifance, 
becave we are filly fenfible, that to publifh a 
good Nows-Taper is not fo eafy an Undertaking 
as many Poople smagiue it to be. The Author of 
aGasette (1 the Opinion of the Learned. J) ouxbt 
to be qualified with an extenfive Acquéintarice 
with ipsa lack a yreat Eafine/s and Command 
of Writing and Relating Things cleanly aud ine 
felligily, and in few Words x be foould be able 
to fpsak of War both by Land and Sea; be well 
acquainted with Geography, with the i; ory of 
the Time, with the fevecat Interefts of ‘Princes: 
and States, the Secrets of Courts, and the Mane 
wers and Cuftoms of al} Nations. BMen thus acu 
seorplitt’'d are very rare in this remote Part of 
the World, and it wonee ve weil tf the Writer 
of theft Papers contd make up amongwis Friends 
what is wanting in bimfelf. 

Upon the Whole, we may affure the Publick, 
that as far as the Encouragement we meat with 
will enable us, no Care and Pains ball be omit~ 
ted, that may make the Pennfyivania Gazette 
as agreeable aud ufeful an Entertaiament as the 
Natore of the Thing will allow. 


The Following is the laft Meffage fent by 
his Excetiency Governour Burvet, to the 
Houfe of Reprefentatives in Bofton. 


Geatlemen of the Houfe of Reprefentatives, 
T is not-with fo vain a Hope as to convince you, that 
I take the Trouble to anfwer your es, but, if 
haul lg jelly eg 
ent, whom you are at fo ns to 
hg: of the true State of their Affi, I need not 
blind 


for an undeniable Proof of this Endeavour to 

them, than your ordering the Leteer of Meflicurs. 
Wills and Beleber of the 7th of Fiero laft w your Speater to 
he pablithed. i is “faid (i our 


Pages 1 and 4 of The Pennsylvania Gazette, the first number after 


Franklin took control. 


Reduced nearly one-half. 


Reproduced from 


a copy at the New York Public Library, 


erred but thofe of 184. And iti remaable hat ll 
Arcempts of this Kind u * Money of this and 
the be teadue rsa i have beens pe and met 
with ill Succefs. 

; Cuftom-Hou/e, Philadelpbia, Entred Towards. 

Sloop Hope, Elias Naudain, fronr Bofton. 

Sloop pee John beac. pew Antigua. *- 

Brigt Pennfwood, Thomas Braly, from Madera, 
Entred Outwards. 

Scooner John, ‘Thomas Wright, to Bofton. 

‘Brigt. Richard and William, W. Mayle, for Lisboa, 

Ship Diligence, hehe Bayley, for Maryland 
teared for Departure. 

Ship London Hope, Thomas Annis, for London. 

Ship John and Anna, James Shesley, for Plymouth. 


(6969696 9695969596965596969b969b969696969 


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ey 


RU N away on the 25th of September patt, 

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and reafonable 


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‘THE PSALMS of David, Imita- 
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ak to the Chriftian Scate and Worbhip By J, Watts, 
DM __ The Seventh Edition. 

NB. (his Work bas met with fuch a general good Reception 
exd Effeem among the Proteftant Differters in Great Britain, &e. 
whether Presbyterians, Independents, or Baptifts, #et Six 
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oe eee ee oe 


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Le, and are tobe fold by him at the loweft tices, | 
either by Wholefale or Retale, at his Shop in Market Street, 
over againft the Presbyzerian Mecting-Houfe, thefe Goods. 
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Bail harmlefs, Bills of Sale, Powers of Ateomey, Writs, 
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moft authentick Forms, and corre@ly printed; may be had 
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TITAN LEEDS’ Almanack, 
for the Year, 1730. in his ufual plain Mcthod , be- 

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expe Titan Leeds's, ‘or any fo usluable 


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GODFREY’s Almanack, for the 
Year 1730 essing the Lunations, Eclipfes, 

Judgment of the Weather, the Spring Tides, Alson's Pre 

fre and Setting, Sun's Rifing and Setting, Length of Days, 

Seven Stars Rifing, Southing and Setting, Time of High- 
Water, Fairs, Courts, and obtervable Days Fitted to 
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Weft from London  Beaxtifnltv Printed in Red and Black, 
on One Side of a barge Dem Shert of Paper, after the I ondow 
Marner ‘To be Sold by the Printers hereof, at the New, 
Printing-Office near the Marker, for 3% per Dozen. 


ae Ian MELTS FE EL HINDI TEP SSGSRP TT HUGE OP 
Philadelphia: Printed by B Franklin and H Meredith, at the New Printing-Office near the Market, where Advertilements, 
ase taken in, and all Pesfons may be tupplicd with this Papers at Ten Shillings a Yat. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY 
OF 


BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 


ig 
ty 
aye 
Lee 

i 
> 


[ 


ANGESTRY ANDIEARLY YOUTH IN 
BOSTON 


Twyrorp,! at the Bishop of St. Asaph’s, 1771. 


ey) EAR SON: I have ever had pleasure 
in obtaining any little anecdotes of 
my ancestors. You may remember 
the inquiries I made among the re- 
mains of my relations when you were with me 
in England, and the journey I undertook for 
that purpose. Imagining it may be equally 
agreeable to you.to know the circumstances of 
my life, many of which you are yet, unac- 
quainted with, and expecting the enjoyment of 
a week’s uninterrupted leisure in my_ present 
country retirement, I sit down to write them 
for you. To which I have besides some other 
inducements. Having emerged from the pov- 


1A small village not far from Winchester in Hampshire, 
southern England. Here was the country seat of the Bishop of 
St. Asaph, Dr. Jonathan Shipley, the “good Bishop,” as Dr. 
Franklin used to style him. Their relations were intimate and 
confidential. In his pulpit, and in the House of Lords, as well 
as in society, the bishop always opposed the harsh measures 
of the Crown toward the Colonies.—Bigelow. 


3 


4 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


erty and obscurity i in which I was born and 
bred, ‘to a state of affluence and some degree of 
Poon in- the world, and having gone so 
far through ‘life with =e considerable share of 
felicity, the conducing means I made use ‘of, 
which with the blessing of God so well succeeded, 
my posterity may like to know, as they may 
find some of them suitable to their own situ- 
ations, and therefore fit to be imitated. : 

“That felicity, when I reflected on it, has in- 
duced me sometimes to say, that were it offered 
to my choice, I should have no objection to a 
repetition of the same life from its beginning, 
only asking the advantages authors have in a 
second edition to correct some faults of the first. 
So I might, besides correcting the faults, change 
some sinister accidents and events of it for 
others more favourable. But though this were. 
denied, I should still accept the offer. Since 
such a repetition is not to be expected, the next 
thing most like living one’s life over again seems 
to be a recollection ofthat life, and to make 
that recollection as durable as possible by put- 
ting it down in writing. 

Hereby, too, I shall indulge’ the inclination | 
so natural in old men, to be talking of them- 
selves and their own past actions; and I shall 
indulge it without being tiresome to others, 


Ve 
Hi 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY = 5 


who, through respect to age, might conceive 
tnemselves obliged to give me a hearing, since 
this may _be read or not as anyone pleases. And, 
lastly (I may as well confess it, since my denial 
‘of it will be believed by nobody), perhaps I 
shall a good deal gratify my own vanity.’ In- 
deed, I scarce ever heard or saw the introduc- 
tory words, “ Without vanity I may say,’ etc., 
but some vain thing immediately followed. 
Most people dislike vanity in others, whatever 
share they have of it themselves; but I give it 
fair quarter wherever I meet with it, being per- 
suaded that it is often productive of good to the 
possessor, and to others that are within his 
sphere of action; and therefore, in many cases, 
it would not be altogether absurd if a man were 
to thank God for his vanity among the other 
comforts of life. 

And now I speak of thanking God, I desire 
‘with all humility to acknowledge that I owe the 
mentioned happiness of my past life to His kind 
providence, which lead me to the means I used 

1Jn this connection Woodrow Wilson says, ‘And yet the sur- 
prising and delightful thing about this book (the Autobiography) 
is that, take it all in all, it has not the low tone of conceit, 
but is a staunch man’s sober and unaffected assessment of him- 
self and the circumstances of his career.” : 

Gibbon and Hume, the great British historians, who were 


contemporaries of Franklin, express in their autobiographies the 
same feeling about the propriety of just self-praise. 


¢ 


6 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


and gave them success. My belief of this in- 
duces me to hope, though I must not presume, 
that the same goodness will still be exercised 
toward me, in continuing that happiness, or 
enabling me to bear a fatal reverse, which I may 
experience as others have done; the complexion 
of my future fortune being known to Him only 
in whose power it is to bless to us even our 
afflictions. | 

The notes one of my uncles (who had the 
same kind of curiosity in collecting family anec- 
dotes) once put into my hands, furnished me 
with several particulars relating to our ances- 
tors. From these notes I learned that the fam- 
ily had lived in the same village, Ecton, in 
Northamptonshire,’ for three hundred years, and 
how much longer he knew not (perhaps from the 
time when the name of Franklin, that before 
was the name of an order of people,’ was as- 
sumed by them as a surname when others took 
surnames all over the kingdom), on a freehold | 
of about thirty acres, aided by the smith’s busi- 
ness, which had continued in the family till his 
time, the eldest son being always bred to that 
business; a custom which he and .my father 
followed as to their eldest sons. When f 
searched the registers at Ecton, I found an ac- 


1See Introduction. 2A small landowner. 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY § 7 


count of their births, marriages and burials from 
the year 1555 only, there being no registers kept 
in that parish at any time preceding. By that 
register I perceived that I was the youngest son 
of the youngest son for five generations back. 
My grandfather Thomas, who was born in 1598, 
” lived at Ecton till he grew too old to follow 
business longer, when he went to live with his 
son John, a dyer at Banbury, in Oxfordshire, 
with whom my father served an apprenticeship. 
There my grandfather died and lies buried. We 
saw his gravestone in 1758. His eldest son 
Thomas lived in the house at Ecton, and left it 
with the land to his only child, a daughter, who, 
with her husband, one Fisher, of. Welling- 
borough, sold it to Mr. Isted, now lord of the 
manor there. My grandfather had four sons 
that grew up, viz.: Thomas, John, Benjamin and 
Josiah. I will give you what account I can of 
them at, this distance from my papers, and if 
these are not lost in my absence, you will among 
them find many more particulars. 
Thomas was bred a smith under his father; 
but, being ingenious, and encouraged in learn- 
ing (as all my brothers were) by an Esquire 
Palmer, then the principal gentleman in that 
parish, he qualified himself for the business of 
scrivener; became a ‘considerable man in the 


8 FRANKLIN’S. AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 


county; was a chief mover of all public-spirited 
undertakings for the county or town of North- 
ampton, and his own village, of which many 
instances were related of him; and much taken 
notice of and patronized by the then Lord Hali- 
fax. He died in 1702, January 6, old style,” just — 
four years to a day before I was born. . The 
account we received of his life and character 
from some old people at Ecton, I remember, 
struck you as something extraordinary, from 
its similarity to what you knew of mine. “ Had 
he died on the same day,” you said, “one might 
have supposed a transmigration.” — , 
John was bred a dyer, I believe of woollens, 
Benjamin was bred a silk dyer, serving an ap- 
prenticeship at London. He was an ingenious 
man. I remember him well, for when I was a 
boy he came over to my father in Boston, and 
lived in the house with us some years. He lived 
ijJanuary 17, new style. This change in the calendar was 
made in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII, and adopted in England in 
1752. Every year whose number in the common reckoning since 
Christ is not divisible by 4, as well as every year whose num- 
ber is divisible by 100 but not by 400, shall have 365 days, and 
all other years shall have 366 days. In the eighteenth century 
there was a difference of eleven days between the old and the 
new style of reckoning, which the English Parliament canceled 
by making the 3rd of September, 1752, the 14th. The Julian 
calendar, or “old style,” is still retained in Russia and Greece, 


whose dates consequently are now 13 days behind those of other 
Christian countries. 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 9g 


toa great age. His grandson, Samuel Franklin, 
now lives in Boston. He left behind him two 
quarto volumes, MS., of his own poetry, con- 
sisting of little occasional pieces addressed to 
his friends and relations, of which the follow- 
ing, sent to me, is a specimen.’ He had formed 
a short-hand of his own, which he taught me, 
but, never practising it, I have now forgot it. 
I was named after this uncle, there being a par- 
ticular affection between him and my father. 
He was very pious, a great attender of sermons 
of the best preachers, which he took down in 
his short-hand, and had with him many volumes 
of them. He was also much of a politician; too 


much, perhaps, for his station. There fell lately 


into my hands, in London, a collection he had 
made of all the principal pamphlets relating to 
public affairs, from 1641 to 1717; many of the 
volumes are wanting as appears by the num- 
bering, but there still remain eight volumes in 


folio, and twenty-four in quarto and in octavo. © 


“a 


A dealer in old books met with them, and 
knowing me by my sometimes buying of him, 
he brought them to me. It seems my uncle 
must have left them here when he went to 
America, which was about fifty years. since. 
There are many of his notes in the margins. 


* The specimen is not in the manuscript of the Autobiography. 


\ 

10 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

This obscure family of ours was early in the 
Reformation, and continued Protestants through 
the reign of Queen Mary, when they were some- 
times in danger of trouble on account of their 
zeal against popery. They had got an English 
Bible, and to conceal and secure it, it was fast- 
ened open with tapes under and within the 
cover of a joint-stool. When my great-great- 
grandfather read it to his family, he turned up 
the joint-stool upon his knees, turning over the 
leaves then under the tapes. One of the chil- 
drén stood at the door to give notice if he saw 
the apparitor coming, who was an officer of the 
spiritual court. In that case the stool was 
turned down again upon its feet, when the Bible 
remained concealed under it as before. ‘This 
anecdote I had from my uncle Benjamin. The 
family continued all of the Church of England 
till about the end of Charles the Second’s reign, 
when some of the ministers that had been outed 
for non-conformity, holding conventicles* in 
Northamptonshire, Benjamin and Josiah ad- 
hered to them, and so continued all their lives: 
the rest of the family remained with the Epis- 
copal Church. | 

Josiah, my father, married young, and carried 
his wife with three children into New England, 


1Secret gatherings of dissenters from the established Church. 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


about 1682. The conventicles having been for- 
bidden by law, and frequently disturbed, in- 
duced some considerable men of his acquaint- 
ance to remove to that country, and he was 
prevailed with to accompany them thither, 
where they expected to enjoy their. mode of re- 
ligion with freedom. By the same wife he had 
four children more born there, and by a second 


TO 


ic 


i" 


See A 


Pere ipa 


=") 
el sy 
are 


Birthplace of Franklin, Milk Street, Boston 


wife ten more, in all seventeen; of which I re- 
member thirteen sitting at one time at his table, 
who all grew up to be men and women, and 
married; I was the youngest son, and the 
youngest child but two, and was born in Bos- 
ton, New England.» My mother, the second 


1Franklin was born on Sunday, January 6, old style, 1706, in 
a house on Milk Street, opposite the Old South Meeting House, 
where he was baptized on the day of his birth, during a snow- 
storm. The house where he was born was burned in 1810— 
Griffin. 


y FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


wife, was Abiah Folger, daughter of Peter Fol- 
ger, one of the first settlers of New England, 
of whom honorable mention is made by Cot- 
ton Mather,’ in his church history of that 
country, entitled Magnalia Christi Americana, 
as “a godly, learned Englishman,’ if 1 remem- 
ber the words rightly. I have heard that he 
wrote sundry small occasional pieces, but only 
one of them was printed, which I saw now many 
years since. It was written in 1675, in the 
home-spun verse of that time and people, and 
addressed to those then concerned in the gov- 
ernment there. It was in favour of liberty of 
conscience, and in behalf of the Baptists, Quak- 
ers, and other sectaries that had been under 
persecution, ascribing the Indian wars, and 
other distresses that had befallen the country, 
to that persecution, as so many judgments of 
God to punish so heinous an offense, and ex- 
horting a repeal of those uncharitable laws. 
The whole appeared to me as written with a good 
deal of decent plainness and manly freedom. The 
six concluding lines I remember, though I have 
forgotten the two first of the stanza; but the 
purport of them was, that his censures pro- 


1Cotton Mather (1663-1728), clergyman, author, and scholar. 
Pastor of the North Church, Boston. He took an active part 


in the persecution of witchcraft. 
. ’ 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 33 


ceeded from good-will, and, therefore, he would 
be known to be the author. 7 


“Because to be a libeller (says he) 
I hate it with my heart; 

From Sherburne town,’ where now I dwell 
My name I do put here; . 

Without offense your real friend, 
It is Peter Folgier.” — 


My elder brothers were all put apprentices 
to different trades. I was put to the grammar- 
school at eight years of age, my father intend- 
ing to devote me, as the tithe* of his sons, to 
the service of the Church. My early readiness 
in learning to read (which must have been very 
early, as I do not remember when I could not 
read), and the opinion of all his friends, that 
IT should certainly make a good scholar, en- 
couraged him in this purpose of his. My uncle 
Benjamin, too, approved of it, and proposed to 
give me all his short-hand volumes of sermons, 
I suppose as a stock to set up with, if I would 
learn his character.* I continued, however, at 
the grammar-school not quite one year, though 
in that time I had risen gradually from the 
middle of the class of that year to be the head 
of it, and farther was removed into the next 
class above it, in order to go with that into 

« Nantucket. 2 Tenth. 3System of shorthand. 


14 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY | 


the third at the end of the year. But my father, 
in the meantime, from a view of the expense 
of a college education, which having so large 
a family he could not well afford, and the mean 
living many so educated were afterwards able 
to obtain—reasons that he gave to his friends 
in my hearing—altered his first intention, took 
me from the grammar-school, and sent me to a 
school for writing and arithmetic, kept by a 
then famous man, Mr. George Brownell, very 
successful in his profession generally, and that 
by mild, encouraging methods. Under him I 
acquired fair writing pretty soon, but I failed 
in the arithmetic, and made no progress in it. 
At ten years old I was taken home to assist 
my father in his business, which was that of 
a tallow-chandler and sope-boiler; a business he 
was not bred to, but had assumed on his arrival 
in New England, and on finding his dyeing 
trade would not maintain his family, being in 
little request. Accordingly, I was employed in 
cutting wick for the candles, filling the dipping 
mould and the moulds for cast candles, attend- 
ing the shop, going of errands, etc." 

I disliked the trade, and had a strong inclina- 
tion for the sea, but my father declared against 
it; however, living near the water, I was much 
in and about it, learnt early to swim well, and 


PRANDDIN' S AUTOBIOGRAPHY." 15 


to manage boats; and when in a boat or canoe 
with other boys, I was commonly allowed to 
govern, especially in any case of difficulty; and 
upon other occasions I was generally a leader 
among the boys, and sometimes led them into 
scrapes, of which I will mention one instance, 
as it shows an early projecting public spirit, 
tho’ not then justly conducted. 

There was a salt-marsh that bounded part of 
the mill-pond, on the edge of which, at high 
water, we used to stand to fish for minnows. 
By much trampling, we had made it a mere 
quagmire. My proposal was to build a wharf 
there fit for us. to stand upon, and I showed my 
comrades a large heap of stones, which were 
intended for a new house near the marsh, and 
which would very well suit our purpose. Ac- 
cordingly, in the evening, when the workmen 
were gone, I assembled a number of. my play- 
fellows, and working with them diligently like 
sO many emmets, sometimes two or three to a 
stone, we brought them all away and built our 
little wharf. The next morning the workmen 
were surprised at missing the stones, which 
were found in our-wharf. Inquiry was made 
after the removers; we were discovered and 
complained of; several of us were corrected by 
our fathers; and, though I pleaded the useful- 


14 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


ness of the work, mine convinced me that 
nothing was useful which was not honest. 

I think you may like to know something of 
his person and character.. He had an excellent 
constitution of body, was of middle stature, but 
well set, and very strong; he was ingenious, 
could draw prettily, was skilled a little in music, 
and had a clear, pleasing voice, so that when 
he played psalm tunes on his violin and sung .- 
withal, as he sometimes did in an evening after — 
the business of the day was over, it was ex- 
tremely agreeable to hear. He had a mechani-— 
cal genius too, and, on occasion, was very handy 
in the use of other tradesmen’s tools; but his © 
great excellence lay in a sound understanding 
and solid judgment in prudential matters, both 
in private and publick affairs. In the latter, in- © 
deed, he was never employed, the numerous 
family he had to educate and the straitness of 
his circumstances keeping him close to his 
trade; but I remember well his being frequently 
visited by leading people, who consulted him for 
his opinion in affairs of the town or of the 
church he belonged to, and showed a good deal 
of respect for his judgment and advice: he was 
also much consulted by private persons about 
their affairs when any difficulty occurred, and 
frequently chosen an arbitrator between con- 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 17 


tending parties. At his table he liked to have, 
as often as he could, some sensible friend or 
neighbor to converse with, and always took 
care to start some ingenious or useful topic for 
discourse, which might tend to improve the 
minds of his children. By this means he turned 
our attention to what was good, just, and pru- 
dent in the conduct of life; and little or no 
notice was ever taken of what related to the 
victuals on the table, whether it was well or 
ill dressed, in or out of season, of good or bad 
flavor, preferable or inferior to this or that 
other thing of the kind, so that I was bro’t up 
in such a perfect inattention to those matters 
as to be quite indifferent what kind of food was 
set before me, and so unobservant of it, that to 
_ this day if I am asked I can scarce tell a few 
hours after dinner what I dined upon. This 
has been a convenience to me in traveling, 
where my companions have been sometimes 
very unhappy for want of a suitable gratifica- 
tion of their more delicate, because better in- 
structed, tastes and appetites. 

My mother had likewise an excellent consti- 
tution: she suckled all her ten children. I never 
knew either my father or mother to have any 
sickness but that of which they dy’d, he at 80, 
and she at 85 years of age. They lie buried to- 


1% FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


gether at Boston, where I some years since 
placed a marble over their grave,’ with this 
inscription: 


JostanH FRANKLIN, 
and 
ABIAH his wife, 
lie here interred. 
They lived lovingly together in wedlock 
fifty-five years. 

Without an estate, or any gainful employment, 
By constant labor and industry, 
with God’s blessing, 

They maintained a large family 
comfortably, 
and brought up thirteen children 
and seven grandchildren 
reputably. | 
From this instance, reader, 

Be encouraged to diligence in thy calling, 
And distrust not Providence. 

He was a pious and prudent man; 
She, a discreet and virtuous woman. 
Their youngest son, 

In filial regard to their memory, 
Places this stone. 

J. F. born 1655, died 1744, AZtat 89. 
A. F. born 1667, died 1752, —— 85. 


By my rambling digressions I perceive my- 
self to be grown old. I us’d to write more me- 


1This marble having decayed, the citizens of Boston in 1827 
erected in its place a granite obelisk, twenty-one feet high, 
bearing the original inscription quoted in the text and another 
explaining the erection of the monument. 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 19 


thodically. But one does not dress for private 
company as for a publick ball. ’Tis perhaps 
only negligence. 

To return: I continued thus employed in my 
father’s business for two years, that’is, till I 
was twelve years old; and my brother John, 
who was bred to that business, having left my 
father, married, and set up for himself at Rhode 
Island, there was all appearance that I was des- 
tined to supply his place, and become a tallow- 
chandler. But my dislike to the trade continu- 
ing, my father was under apprehensions that if 
he did not find one for me more agreeable, I 
should break away and get to sea, as his son 
Josiah had done, to his great vexation. He 
therefore sometimes took me to walk with him, 
and see joiners, bricklayers, turners, braziers, 
etc., at their work, that he might observe my 
inclination, and endeavor to fix it on some trade 
or other on land. It has ever since been a pleas- 
ure to me to see good workmen handle their 
tools; and it has been useful to me, having 
learnt so much by it as to be able to do little 
jobs myself in my‘house when a workman could 
not readily be got, and to construct little ma- 
chines for my experiments, while the intention 
of making the experiment was fresh and warm 
in my mind. My father at last fixed upon 


20 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


the cutler’s trade, and my uncle Benjamin’s 
son Samuel, who was bred to that business in 
London, being about that time established in 
Boston, I was sent to be with him some time 
on liking. But his expectations of a fee with 
me displeasing my father, I was taken home 
again. | | 


IT 


bEGINNING LIFE AS A PRINTER 


W/ROM a child I was fond of reading, 
and all the little money that came 
Bec M4] into my hands was ever laid out in 
23) books. Pleased with the Pilgrim’s 
Progress, my first collection was of John Bun- 
yan’s works in separate little volumes. I after- 
ward sold them to enable me to buy R. Burton’s 
Historical Collections; they were small chap- 
men’s books,’ and cheap, 40 or 50 in all. My 
father’s little library consisted chiefly of books in 
polemic divinity, most of which I read, and have 
since often regretted that, at a time when I had 
such a thirst for knowledge, more proper books 
had not fallen in my way, since it was now re- 
solved I should not be a clergyman. Plutarch’s _ 
Lives there was in which I read abundantly, and I 
still think that time ‘spent to great advantage. 
There was also a book of DeFoe’s, called an 
Essay on Projects, and another of Dr. Mather’s, 
called Essays to do Good, which perhaps gave me 


1 Small books, sold by chapmen or peddlers. 
21 


ree 
es 


22 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


a turn of thinking that had an influence on some. 


of the principal future events of my life. 

This bookish inclination at length devermined 
my father to make me a printer, though he had 
already one son (James) of that profession. In 
1717 my brother James returned from England 
with a press and letters to set up his business in 
Boston. I liked it much better than that of my 
father, but still had a hankering for the sea. To 
prevent the apprehended effect of such an in- 
clination, my father was impatient to have me 
bound to my brother. I stood out some time, but 
at last was persuaded, and signed the indentures 
when I was yet but twelve years old. I was to 
serve as an apprentice till I was twenty-one 
years of age, only I was to be allowed journey- 
man’s wages during the last year. Ina little time 
I made great proficiency in the business, and 
became a useful hand to my brother. I now had 
access to better books. An acquaintance with 
the apprentices of booksellers enabled me some- 
times to borrow a small one, which I was care- 
ful to return soon and clean. Often I sat up in 
my room reading the greatest part of the night, 
when the book was borrowed in the evening and 
to be returned early in the morning, lest it should 
be missed or wanted. 

And after some time an ingenious tradesman, 


| 
} 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 23 


Mr. Matthew Adams, who had a pretty collec- 
tion of books, and who frequented our printing- 
house, took notice of me, invited me to his 
library, and very kindly lent me such books as I 
chose to read. I now took a fancy to poetry, and 
made some little pieces; my brother, thinking 
_ it might turn to account, encouraged me, and put 
me on composing occasional ballads. One was 
called The Lighthouse Tragedy, and contained an 
account of the drowning of Captain Worthilake, 
with his two daughters: the other was a sailor’s 
song, on the taking of Teach (or Blackbeard) 
the pirate. They were wretched stuff, in the 
Grub-street-ballad style;* and when they were 
printed he sent me about the town to sell them. 
(The first sold wonderfully, the event being recent, 
having made a great noise. - This flattered my 
vanity; but my father discouraged me by ridicul-' 
ing my performances, and telling me verse- 
makers were generally beggars. | So I escaped 
being a poet, most probably a very bad one; but 
“as prose writing has been of great use to me 
in the course of my life, and was a principal 
means of my advancement, I| shall tell you how, 
in such a situation, I acquired what little anny, 
I have in that way. 


1 Grub-street: famous in English literature as the home of poor 
writers, 


24 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 
pe 2 


There was another bookish lad in the town, 
John Collins by name, with whom I was inti- 
mately acquainted. We sometimes disputed, 
and very fond we were of argument, and very 
desirous of confuting one another, which 
disputatious turn, by the way, is apt to 
become a very bad habit, making people often 
extremely disagreeable in company by the con- 
tradiction that is necessary to bring it into 
practice; and thence, besides souring and spoil- 
ing the conversation, is productive of disgusts 
and, perhaps enmities where you may have oc- 
casion for friendship. I had caught it by read- 
ing my father’s books of dispute about religion. 
Persons of good sense, I have since observed, 
seldom fall into it, except lawyers, university 
men, and men of all sorts that have been bred 
at Edinborough. 

A question was once, somehow or other, 
started between Collins and me, of the pro- 
priety of educating the female sex in learning, 
and their abilities for study. He was of opin- 
ion that it was improper, and that they were - 
naturally unequal to it. I took the contrary 
side, perhaps. a little for dispute’s sake. He was 
naturally more eloquent, had a ready plenty 
of words, and sometimes, as I thought, bore me 
down more by his fluency than by the strength 


LFRANEDLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY) '25 


of his reasons. As we parted without settling 
the point, and were not to see one another 
again for some time, I sat down to put my ar- 
guments in writing, which I copied fair and 
sent to him. He answered, and I replied. Three 
or four letters of a side had passed, when my 
father happened to find my papers and. read 
‘them. Without entering into the discussion, 
he took occasion to talk to me about the man- 
ner of my writing; observed that, though I had 
the advantage of my antagonist in correct spell- 
ing and pointing (which I ow’d to the printing- 
house), I fell far short in elegance of expres- 
sion, in method and in perspicuity, of which he 
convinced me by several instances. I saw the 
justice of his remarks, and thence grew more 
attentive to the manner in writing, and deter- 
mined to endeavor at improvement. 

About this time I met with an odd volume 
of the Spectator. It was the third. I had never 
before seen any of them. I bought it, read it 
over and over, and was much delighted with it. 
I thought the writing excellent, and wished, if 
possible, to imitate it. With this view I took 
some of the papers, and, making short hints 


1A daily London journal, comprising satirical essays on social 
subjects, published by Addison and Steele in 1711-1712. The 
Spectator and its predecessor, the Tatler (1709), marked the be- 
ginning of periodical literature. 


26 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


of the sentiment in each sentence, laid them by 
a few days, and then, without looking at the 
book, try’d to compleat the papers again, by 
expressing each hinted sentiment at length, and 
as fully as it had been expressed before, in any 
suitable words that should come to hand. Then 
I compared my Spectator with the original, dis-. 
covered some of my faults, and corrected them. 
But I found I wanted a stock of words, or a 
readiness in recollecting and using them, which 
I thought I should have acquired ‘before that 
time if I had gone on making verses; since 
the continual occasion for words of the same im- 
port, but of different length, to suit the meas- 
ure, or of different sound for the rhyme, would 
have laid me under a constant necessity of 
searching for variety, and also have tended 
to fix that variety in my mind, and make me 
master of 1t. Therefore I took (Some Gf tne 
tales and turned them. into verse; and, after 
a time, when I had pretty well forgotten the 
prose, turned them back again. I also some- 
times jumbled my collections of hints into con- 
fusion, and after some weeks endeavored to re- 
duce them into the best order, before I began 
to form the full sentences and compleat the 
paper. This was to teach me method in the 
arrangement of thoughts. By comparing my 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 27 


work afterwards with the original, I discovered 
many faults and amended them; but I some- 
times had the pleasure of fancying that, in cer- 
tain particulars of small import, I had been 
lucky enough to improve the method of the 
language, and this encouraged me to think I 
might possibly in time come to be a tolerable 
English writer, of which I was extremely am- 
bitious. My time for these exercises and for 
reading was at night, after work or before it 
began in the morning, or on Sundays, when I 
contrived to be in the printing-house alone, 
evading as much as I could the common at- 
tendance on public worship which my father 
used to exact of me when I was under his 
care, and which indeed I still thought a duty, 
thought I could not, as it seemed to me, afford 
time to practise it. 

When about 16 years of age I happened to 
meet with a book, written by one Tryon, rec- 
ommending a vegetablé diet. I determined to 
go into it. My brother, being yet unmarried, 
did not keep house, but boarded himself and 
his apprentices in another family. My refus- 
ing to eat flesh occasioned an inconveniency, 
and I was frequently chid for my singularity. 
I made myself acquainted with Tryon’s man- 
ner of preparing some of his dishes, such as 


28 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


boiling potatoes or rice, making hasty pudding, 
and a few others, and then proposed to my , 
brother, that if he would give me, weekly, halt 
the money he paid for my board, I would board 
myself. He instantly agreed to it, and I pres- 
ently found that I could save half what he paid 
me. This was an additional fund for buying 
books. But I had another advantage in it. My 
brother and the rest going from the printing- 
house to their meals, I remained there alone, 
and, dispatching presently my light repast, 
which often was no more than a bisket or a 
slice of bread, a handful of raisins or a tart from 
the pastry-cook’s, and a glass of water, had the 
rest of the time till their return for study, in 
which I made the greater progress, from that 
greater clearness of head and quicker apprehen- 
sion which usually attend temperance in eating 
and drinking. 

And now it was that, being on some occa- 
sion made asham’d of my ignorance in figures, 
which I had twice failed in learning when at 
school, I took Cocker’s book of Arithmetick, 
and went through the whole by myself with 
great ease. I also read Seller’s and Shermy’s 
books of Navigation, and became acquainted 
with the little geometry they contain; but never 
proceeded far in that science. And I read about 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY _ 29 


this time Locke On Human Understanding,* 
and the Art of Thinking, by Messrs. du Port 
Royal.’ 

While I was intent on improving my lan- 
guage, I met with an English grammar (I 
think it was Greenwood’s), at the end of which 
there were two little sketches of the arts of 
rhetoric and logic, the latter finishing with a 
specimen of a dispute in the Socratic * method; 
and soon after I procur’d Xenophon’s Mem-_ 
orable Things of Socrates, wherein there 
“are many instances of the same method. I was 
charm’d with it, adopted it, dropt my abrupt 
contradiction and positive argumentation, and 
put on the humble inquirer and doubter. And 
being then, from reading Shaftesbury and Col- 
lins, become a real doubter in many points of 
our religious doctrine, I found this method 
safest for myself and very embarrassing to those 
against whom I used it; therefore I took a de- 
light in it, practis’d it continually, and grew 


1John Locke (1632-1704), a. celebrated English philosopher, 
founder of the so-called “common-sense” school of philosophers. 
He drew up a constitution for the colonists of Carolina. 

2A noted society of scholarly and devout men occupying the 
abbey of Port Royal near Paris, who published learned works, 
among them the one here referred to, better known as the Port 
Royal Logic. 

3 Socrates confuted his opponents in argument by asking ques- 
tions so skillfully devised that the answers would confirm the 
questioner’s position or show the error of the opponent. 


30 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


very artful and expert in drawing people, even 
of superior knowledge, into concessions, the 
consequences of which they did not foresee, 
entangling them in difficulties out of which they 
could not» extricate themselves, and so obtain-_ i 
ing victories that neither myself nor my cause 
always deserved. I continu’d this method some. 
few years, but gradually left it, retaining only 
the habit of expressing Hie in terms of 
modest diffidence; neyerusing, when I ad- 
vanced anything that may pecotie be disputed, 
the words certainly, undoubtedly, or any others 
that give the air of positiveness to an opinion; 
but rather say, I conceive or apprehend a thing 
to be so and so; it appears to me, or L should 
think it So or 50, for such and_ such reasons; 
on T imagine 1t to be so; or 11:48 souay TE am not 
mistaken. This habit, I believe, has been of 
great advantage to me when I have had occa- 
sion to inculcate my opinions, and persuade 
men into measures that I have been from time 
to time engaged in promoting; and, _as the chief 
ends of conversation are to. inform or_to be 
informed, to ) please” or to persuade, I wish well- 
wee sensible men would not lessen their 
power of doing good by a positive, assuming 
manner, that seldom fails to disgust, tends to 
create opposition, and to defeat everyone of 


Prawn mul N'StAUTOBTOGRAPH Y) }’ 31 


those purposes for which speech was given to 
us, to wit, giving or receiving information or 
pleasure. For, if you would inform, a positive 
and dogmatical manner in advancing your sen- 
timents may provoke contradiction and prevent 
a candid attention. If you wish information and 
improvement from the knowledge of others, 
and yet at the same time express yourself as 
firmly fix’d in your present opinions, modest, 
sensible men, who do not love disputation, will 
probably leave you undisturbed in the posses- 
sion of your error. And by such a manner, you 
can seldom hope to recommend yourself in 
pleasing your hearers, or tO persuade those 
whose concurrence you desire. Pope’ says, 
judiciously: | 
“ Men should be taught as if you taught them not, 
And things unknown propos'd as things forgot;”’ 
farther recommending to us 


“To speak, tho’ sure, with seeming diffidence.” 


And he might have coupled with this line that 
which he has coupled with another, I think, 
less properly, 

“For want of modesty is want of sense.” 
If you ask, Why less properly? I must repeat 
the lines, 


1 Alexander Pope (1688-1744), the greatest English poet of the 
first half of the eighteenth century. 


32 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY ° 


““Immodest words admit of no defense, 
For want of modesty is want of sense.” 
Now, is not want of sense (where a man 1s so 
unfortunate as to want it) some apology for his 
want of modesty? and would not the lines stand 
more justly thus? | 


“TImmodest words admit but this defense, 
That want of modesty is want of sense.” 


This, however, I should submit to better judg- 
ments. : 

My brother had, in 1720 or 1721, begun to 
print a newspaper. It was the second that 
appeared in America,’ and was called the New 
England Courant. The only one before it was 
the Boston News-Letter. I remember his be- 
ing dissuaded by some of his friends from the 
undertaking, as not likely to succeed, one news- © 
paper being, in their judgment, enough for 
America. At this time (1771) there are not less 
than five-and-twenty. He went on, however, © 
with the undertaking, and after having worked 
in composing the types and printing off the 


1Franklin’s memory does not serve him correctly here. The 
Courant was really the fifth newspaper established in America, 
although generally called the fourth, because the first, Public Oc- 
currences, published in Boston in 1690, was suppressed after the 
first issue. Following is the order in which the other four 
papers were published: Boston News Letter, 1704; Boston Ga- 
gette, December 21, 1719; The American Weekly Mercury, Phila- 
delphia, December 22, 1719; The New England Courant, 1721. 


THE 


New-England Courant. 


5 


From Monpay December 4. to Monpva ¢¥ December 11. 


721, 


Ox SYLVIA the Fair. A Jingle. 


Swarm cof Sparks, young, gay, and bold, 
Lov’d Sylvia Jong, but the was cold 5 
In’ureft and Pride the Nymph control’d, 
So they in vain their Palfion told. 
At laft came Dalman, he was old, 
Nay, he was ugly, but had Gold. 
He came, and faw, and took the Hold, 
While ocher Beaux their Lofs Condol'd. 
Some fay, the’s Wed; I fay, the's fold. 


The Letter againft Inoculating the Small Pox, ( Sign'd 

~ Abfinthium ) grving an Account of the Number of 
Pafons who bave dy’d under that Operation, will be 
Infirted in our neat. 


FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 


Ifpstan, Maveh 6. The Confpiracy form'd by the 
Grand Vizis laft January was T welvemonth, with de- 
fign to make hunfelf King of Perfia, was feafonably 
difcover'd, and himfelf and Accomplices fecured ; fince 
which the State hath enjoy'd its former Tranquility, 
andanew Viziris appointed in his room, The old 
one’s Eyes being both put out, he is hept alive ( bur 
in Prifon ) to make him difcover ali his Riches ; 
which muft be immenfely great, fince they found in 
one of his Chefts four hundred thoufand Perfian Du- 
cats, befide Foreign Coin, and in another Place abun- 
dance of Jewels, Gold and Silver-; and fo in proporti- 
on among [everal of his Accomplices ; by the help of 
which Treafure they ae to compafs their Ends. 

Tripols, July 12. As foon as our Squadron fitred out 
againft the fainous Baffaw Gianur. Cogia, appear'd off 
Dasna and Bengan, with two thoufand five hundred 
Moorish Horfe, and a thoufand Foot, and skirmih’p 
alittle with his Squadron, he abandon’d both thofe 
Places, and fied tothe Ifland of Serby in the Territo- 
ties of Tunis; But the Bey of that Place having de- 
ny'd him Shelter, he fail’d farther away, ina French 
Barguc, we know not whether; and his own Galleys 
and Barques, are gone after him, fo that we ate now 
entirely tid of that troublefome Gueit. Our Rovers 
Keep all in Port, for feat of the Malteze. 

Cadiz, Aug. 12. The Flota is expected Home from 
the Weft-Indies before the End of this Month. 
Thirteen Pieces of Canon andtwo Mortars were late- 
Sy fent from hence to Ceuta. The three Spanith Men 
of War of $0 to 60 Guns each, which catried the Spa- 
nith Cardinals to Italy, are now at Alicant: It is faid 
they ate to join the Dutch Vice-Admiral, who isnow 
in this Bay with four Ships of his Squadron of so 
Guns each, and cruize againft the Algerines, Wheat 
and Parley being very cheap in thefe Parts, greae 
Quantities have been fent lately to the Canaries, 
where for fome Time paft the Inhabitants have been 
ingreat Wantof Com. On the oth Iuftant died Mr. 
Charles, His Britannfck Majefty’s Coaful at Se, 
Lucar, 

Ferne, Ang.20. The Deputies of this Canton who 
went to the Diet at Frawenfeldt, are now aflembled 
at Baden with thofe of Zurich and Glaris, to reguiate 
certain Affairs relating tothe Town and Counry of 
Baden, vhich formerly belonged to the Eight Eldeft 


Cantoas, but in the laft Swifs War was given up to 
Zurich and Berne in Propriety, with a Refervationto 
the Canton of Glaris( which is moftly Proteftant ) of 
the Shate it had berore in the Sovereignty of thar 
Diftrict. The three Deputies of Zurich, Lucern & 
Ury, who were coininiilioned by the lace General Dyet 
to go to Wilchingen, to try to compofe the Differ. 
ences which have been Jong {ftanding between the In- 
habitants of that Place and the Cancon of Schafhuy- 
fen whofe Subjects they are, have offered thofe Inha- 
bitonts a full Pardon for all paft Misbehaviour, and 
the Maintenance of their Piivileges for the future, 
Provided they forthwith return to their Duty; but 
it is advifed that thofe of Wilchingen petfift hitherto 
in their Ditobedience. ; 

Schaffhaufen Scpt. a. They write from Italy, thae 
the Plague is no longer obferv'd at Marfeilles, Aix, & 
feveral other Places; and thae at Toulon it is very 
much decreas’d: Butalas/ how fhould it be other- 
wife, when the Diftemper hath hardly any Objeés 
left to work upon? At Arles it is likewile abated, 
we fear for the fame Reafon. Mean while, it fpreads 
in the Gevaudan; and two large Villages in the 
Neighbourhood of Frejus were attack’d the begin- 
ning of this Month. The French Court hath prohi- 
bited all communicatioa with the Gevaudan upon fe- 
vere Penalties. The Plague is certainly got into the 
{mall Town of Marvegue in that Diftriét, which 
Town is fhut in by eight hundred Men. Letters from 
Geneva fay, the two Battalions employ’d in furroune 
ding La Canourgue, are infefted ; and that Maages is 
very much fufpected. The Marquis de Quelus had 
retired toa Caftle near Avignon; but the Sicknefs 
being got among his Dometfticks, he was fled farther, 
away. 

Paris, Sepe. §. The Diftri&t over which the Duke 
of Berwick is to have the Command, extends to the 
Borders of the Bourbonnois; and the Court puts 2 
great Confidence in the Care of that Ceneral to hinder 
the Infection from {preading. The Marquis do 
Verceil is aftually drawing Lines to fhut in the Ge 
vaudan ; and twelve Regiments of Foot, and as many 
of Dragoons, are marching to reinforce the Troops 
already pofted on that fide. The Plague feems to 
have almof {pent itfelf ia Provence, Tho’ it is yer 
a great way off of us, Men talk neverthelefs of laying 
up Magazines of ail fort of Provifions here, and of ina- 
king twenty thoufand Beds, to be fet up in the Hofpi- 
tals and Tennis-Courts. 

Hague, Sept. 9. The Deputies of our Admiralties 
had, laft Saturday, an extraordinary Conference with 
thofe of the States General, upon che fpreading of a 
Report, that ten or twelve Perfons died daily at a cer- 
tain Place in Normandy, which was therefore fufpedct- 
ed to have received the Contagion ; But upon the 
matter, it doth not appear there was the Jeaft Foun- 
dation for fucha Report; tho’ it is too plain the 
Diftemper gains ground zpace in the Southern Parts 
of France. 

We can by no means penettate intothe Defigns of 
the Czar; who, notwithftanding ‘tis confidently 
written that the Peace between himand Sweden is as 
good’as concluded, hath a Fleet of thirty Men of War 
and two hundred Galleys at Sea near Aland. Hawe- 
ver, an Exprefs gone by from Stockholm, doth Si 

confism 


First page of The New England Courant of Dec. 4-11,1721. Re- 
duced about one-third. From a copy in the library of 
the Massachusetts Historical Society 


y 
Desa te 
aaa 


Aik 
W TAs ‘ 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY © 35 


sheets, I was employed to carry the papers 
-thro’ the streets to the customers. 

He had some ingenious men among his 
friends, who amus’d themselves by writing little 
pieces for this paper, which gain’d it credit 
and made it more in demand, and these gentle- 
men often visited us. Hearing their conversa- 
tions, and their accounts of the approbation 
their papers were received with, I was excited 
to try my hand among them; but, being still a 
boy, and suspecting that my brother would 
object to printing anything of mine in his pa- 
per if he knew it to be mine, I contrived to dis- 
guise my hand, and, writing an anonymous 
paper, I put it in at night under the door of 
the printing-house. It was found in the morn- 
ing, and communicated to his writing friends 
when they call’d in as usual. They read it, 
commented on it in my hearing, and I had the 
exquisite pleasure of finding it met with their 
approbation, and that, in their different guesses 
at the author, none were named but men of 
some character among us for learning and in- 
genuity. I suppose now that I was rather lucky 
in my judges, and that perhaps they were not 
really so very good ones as I then esteem’d 
them. | 

Encovrag’d, however, by this, I wrote and 


36 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


conveyed in the same way to the press several 
more papers which were equally approvd; and 
I kept my secret till my small fund of sense | 
for such performances was pretty well ex- 
hausted, and then I discovered* it, when 1] 
began to be considered a little more by my 
brother’s acquaintance, and in a manner that 
did not quite please him, as he thought, prob- 
ably with reason, that it tended to make me 
too vain. And, perhaps, this might be one oc- 
casion of the differences that we began to have 
about this time. Though a brother, he con- 
sidered himself as my master, and me as his 
apprentice, and, accordingly, expected the same 
services from me as he would from another, 
while I thought he demean’d me too much in 
some he requir'd of me, who from a brother 
expected more indulgence. Our disputes were 
often brought before our father, and I fancy 
I was either generally in the right, or else a 
better pleader, because the judgment was gen- 
erally in my favor. But my brother was pas- 
sionate, and had often beaten me, which I took 
extreamly amiss; and, thinking my apprentice- 
ship very tedious, I was continually wishing 
for some opportunity of shortening it, which 
at length offered in a manner unexpected. 


1 Disclosed. tk, 


PhRaniowiN oS AD TOBLOGRAPEHY «. 37 


One of the pieces in gur newspaper on some 
political point, which I have now forgotten, 
gave offense to the Assembly. He was taken 
up, censur’d, and imprison’d for a month, by 
the speaker’s warrant, I suppose, because he 
would not discover his author. I too was taken 
up and examin’d before the council; but, tho’ 
I did not give them any satisfaction, they con- 
tented themselves with admonishing me, and 
dismissed me, considering me, perhaps, as an 
apprentice, who was bound to keep his mas- 
ter’s secrets. 

During my brother’s confinement, which I 
resented a good deal, notwithstanding our 
private differences, I had the management of 
the paper; and I made bold to give our rulers 
some rubs in it, which my brother took very 
kindly, while others began to consider me in 
an unfavorable light, as a young genius that 
had a turn for libeling and satyr. My brother’s 
discharge was accompany’d with an order of 
the House (a very odd one), that “ James 
Franklin should no longer print the paper called 
the New England Courant.” 

There was a consultation held in our print- 
ing-house among his friends, what he should 
do in this case. Some proposed to evade the 
order by changing the name of the paper; but 


38 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


my brother, seeing inconveniences in that, it 
was finally concluded on as a better way, to 
let it be printed for the future under the name 
of BENJAMIN FRANKLIN; and to avoid the cen- 
sure of the Assembly, that might fall on him as 
still printing it by his apprentice, the contriv- 
ance was that my old indenture should be re- 
turn’d to me, with a full discharge on the back 
of it, to be shown on occasion, but to secure to 
him the benefit of my service, I was to sign 
new indentures for the remainder of the term, 
which were to be kept private. A very flimsy 
scheme it was; however, it was immediately 
executed, and the paper went on accordingly, 
under my name for several months. 

At length, a fresh difference arising between 
my brother and me, I took upon me to assert 
my freedom, presuming that he would not ven- 
ture to produce the new indentures. It was 
not fair in me to take this advantage, and this 
{ therefore reckon one of the first errata of 
my life; but the unfairness of it weighed little 
with me, when under the impressions of re- 
-sentment for the blows his passion too often 
urged him to bestow upon me, though he was 
otherwise not an ill-natur’d man: perhaps I 
was too saucy and provoking. 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY © 39 


When he found I would leave him; he took 
care to prevent my getting employment in any 
other printing-house of the town, by going 
round and speaking to every master, who ac- 
cordingly refus’d to give me work. I then thought 
of going to New York, as the nearest place 
where there was a printer; and I was rather in- 
clin’d to leave Boston when I reflected that 
I had already made myself a little obnoxious 
to the governing party, and, from the arbitrary 
proceedings of the Assembly in my brother’s 
case, it was likely I might, if I stay’d, soon 
bring myself into scrapes; and farther, that my 
indiscreet disputations about religion began to 
make me pointed at with horror by good people 
as an infidel or atheist. I determin’d on the 
point, but my father now siding with my 
brother, I was sensible that, if I attempted to 
go openly, means would be used to prevent 
me. My friend Collins, therefore, undertook 
to manage a little for me. He agreed with 
the captain of a New York sloop for my 
passage, under the notion of my being a young 
acquaintance of his. So I sold some of my 
books to raise a little money, was taken on 
board privately, ard as we had a fair wind, 
in three days I found myself in New York, 


40 KFRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


near 300 miles from home, a boy of but 17, 
without the least recommendation to, or knowl- 
edge of, any person in the place, and with 
very little money in my pocket. 


{it 


ARRIVAL IN PHILADELPHIA 


13 oH aie inclinations for the sea were by 
| Wy this time worne out, or I might 
Nica now have gratify’d them. But, hav- 
ing a trade, and supposing myself a 
pretty good workman, I offer’d my service to 
the printer in the place, old Mr. William Brad- 
ford, who had been the first printer in Penn- 
sylvania, but removed from thence upon the 
quarrel of George Keith. He could give me no 
employment, having little to do, and help 
enough already; but says he, “My son at 
Philadelphia has lately lost his principal hand, 
Aquilla Rose, by death; if you go thither, I 
believe he may employ you.” Philadelphia was 
a hundred miles further; I set out, however, 
in a boat for Amboy, leaving my chest and 
things to follow me round by sea. 
In crossing the bay, we met with a squall 
tore our rotten sails to pieces, prevented 
etting into the Kill,” and drove us upon 


van Kull, the channel separating Staten Island from New 
the north. 


OI anne oh nT ete ce ee nen a et amen es ee PS A AAT TAU ON Chie, 
2 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


Long Island. In our way, a drunken Dutch- 
man, who was a passenger too, fell overboard; 
when he was sinking, I reached through the 
water to his shock pate, and drew him up, so 
that we got him in again. His ducking sobered 
him a little, and he went to sleep, taking first: 
out of his pocket a book, which he desir’d I 
would dry for him. It proved to be my old 
favorite author, Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, 
in Dutch, finely printed on good paper, with 
copper. cuts, a. dress better than J) fag ever 
seen it wear in its own language. I have since 
found that it has been translated into most 
of the languages of Europe, and suppose it 
has been more generally read than any other 
book, except perhaps the Bible. Honest John 
was the first that I know of who mix’d narra- 
tion and dialogue; a method of writing very 
engaging to the reader, who in the most inter- 
esting parts finds himself, as it were, brought 
into the company and present at the discourse. 
De Foe in his Cruso, his Moll Flanders, Re- 
ligious Courtship, Family Instructor, and other 
pieces, has imitated it with success; and Rich- 
ardson* has done the same in his Pamela, 


1Samuel Richardson, the father of the English nove’ 
Pamela, Clarissa Harlowe, and the History of Sir Charles, 
son, novels published in the form of letters. 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 43 


When we drew near the island, we found 
it was at a place where there could be no 
landing, there being a great surff on the stony 
beach. So we dropt anchor, and swung round 
towards the shore. Some people came down 
to the water edge and hallow’d to us, as we did 
to them; but the wind was so high, and the 
surff so loud, that we could not hear so as to 
understand edch other. There were canoes 
on the shore, and we made signs, and hallow’d 
that they should fetch us; but they either did 
not understand us, or thought it impracticable, 
so they went away, and night coming on, we 
had no remedy but to wait till the wind should 
abate; and, in the meantime, the boatman and 
I concluded to sleep, if we could; and so 
crowded into the scuttle, with the Dutchman, 
who was still wet, and the spray beating over 
the head of our boat, leak’d thro’ to us, so that 
we were soon almost as wet as he. In this man- 
ner we lay all night, with very little rest; but, 
the wind abating the next day, we made a 
shift to reach Amboy before night, having been 
thirty hours on the water, without victuals, or 
any drink but a bottle of filthy rum, and the 
water we sail’d on being salt. 

In the evening I found myself very feverish, 
and went in to bed; but, having read some- 


44 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


where that cold water drank plentifully was 
‘ good for a fever, I follow’d the prescription, 
sweat plentifully most of the night, my fever 
left me, and in the morning, crossing the ferry, 
I proceeded on my journey on foot, having 
fifty miles to Burlington, where I was told I 


should find boats that would carry me the rest 
of the way to Philadelphia. 

It rained very hard all the day; I was 
thoroughly soak’d, and by noon a good deal 
tired; so I stopt at a poor inn, where I staid 
all night, beginning now to wish that I had 
never left home. I cut so miserable a figure, 
too, that I found, by the questions ask’d me, 
I was suspected to be some runaway servant, 
and in danger of being taken up on that sus- 
picion. However, I proceeded the next day, 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 45 


and got in the evening to an inn, within eight 
or ten miles of Burlington; kept by one Dr. 
Brown. He entered into conversation with 
me while I took some refreshment, and, find- 
ing I had read ‘a little, became very sociable 
and friendly. Our acquaintance continu’d as 
long as he liv’d. He had been, I imagine, an 
itinerant doctor, for there was no town in 
England, or country in Europe, of which he 
could not give a very particular account. He 
had some letters, and was ingenious, but much 
of an unbeliever, and wickedly undertook, some 
years after, to travesty the Bible in doggrel 
verse, as Cotton had done Virgil. By this 
means he set many of the facts in a very 
ridiculous light, and might have hurt weak 
minds if his work had been published; but it 
never was. 

At his house I lay that night, and the next 
morning reach’d Burlington, but had the mor- 
tification to find that the regular boats were 
gone a little before my coming, and no other 
expected to go before Tuesday, this being Sat- 
urday; wherefore I returned to an old woman 
in the town, of whom I had bought ginger- 
bread to eat on the water, and ask’d her advice. 
She invited me ‘to lodge at her house till a 
passage by water should offer; and being tired 


46 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


with my foot traveling, I accepted the invita- 
tion. She understanding I was a printer, would 
have had me stay at that town and follow my 
business, being ignorant of the stock necessary 
to begin with. She was very hospitable, gave 
me a dinner of ox-cheek with great good will, 
accepting only of a.pot of ale in return; and | 
thought myself fixed till Tuesday should come. 
However, walking in the evening by the side 
of the river, a boat came by, which I found was 
going towards Philadelphia, with several people 
in her. They took me in, and, as there was no 
wind, we row’d all the way; and about mid- 
night, not having yet seen the city, some of the 
company were confident we must have passed 
it, and would row no farther; the others knew 
not where we were; so we put toward the 
shore, got into a creek, landed near an old 
fence, with the rails of which we made a fire, 
the night being cold, in October, and there we 
remained till daylight. Then one of the com- 
pany knew the place to be Cooper’s Creek, a 
little above Philadelphia, which we saw as soon 
as we got out of the creek, and arrivd there 
about eight or nine o’clock on the Sunday 
morning, and landed at the Market-street 
wharf. 

I have been the more particular in this de- 


Pena LN by AU LORTOGRAPR EY #7 


scription of my journey, and shall be so of 
my first entry into that city, that you may in 
your mind compare such unlikely beginnings 
with the figure I have since made there. I 
was in my working dress, my best clothes be- 
ing to come round by sea. I was dirty from 
my journey; my pockets were stuff’d out with 
shirts and stockings, and I knew no soul nor 
where to look for lodging. I was fatigued 
with traveling, rowing, and want of rest, I 
was very hungry; and my whole stock of cash 
consisted of a Dutch dollar, and about a shilling 
in copper. The latter I gave the people of the 
boat for my passage, who at first refus’d it, on 
account of my rowing; but I insisted on their 
taking it. A man being sometimes more gen- 
erous when he has but a little money than when 
he has plenty, perhaps thro’ fear of being 
thought to have but little. 

Then I walked up the street, gazing about 
till near the market-house I met a boy with 
bread. I had made many a meal on bread, 
and, inquiring where he got it, I went immedi- 
ately to the baker’s he directed me to, in Sec- 
ond-street, and ask’d for bisket, intending such 
as we had in Boston; but they, it seems, were 
not made in Philadelphia. Then I asked for 
a three-penny loaf, and was told they had 


48 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


none such. So not considering or knowing 
the difference of money, and the greater cheap- 
ness nor the names of his bread, I bade him 
give me three-penny worth of any sort. He 
gave me, accordingly, three great puffy rolls. 
I was surpriz’d at the quantity, but took it, 
and, having no room in my pockets, walk’d 
off. with a roll under each arm, and eatme 
the other. Thus I went up Market-street as 
far as Fourth-street, passing by the door of 
Mr. Read, my future wife’s father; when she, 
standing at the door, saw me, and thought I 
made, as I certainly did, a most awkward, 
ridiculous appearance. Then I turned and went 
down Chestnut-street and part of Walnut- 
street, eating my roll all the way, and, com- 

ing round, found myself again at Market-street 
wharf, near the boat I came in, to which I 
went for a draught of the river water; and, 
being filled with one of my rolls, gave the other 
two to a woman and her child that came down 
the river in the boat with us, and were waiting 
to go farther. 

Thus refreshed, I walked again up the street, 
which by this time had many clean-dressed 
people in it, who were all walking the same 
way. I joined them, and thereby was led into 
the great meeting-house of the Quakers near 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY § 49 


the market. I sat down among them, and, 
after looking round awhile and hearing nothing 
said, being very drowsy thro’ labour and want 
of rest the preceding night, I fell fast asleep, 
and continu’d so till the meeting broke up, 
when one was kind enough to rouse me. This 
was, therefore, the first house I was in, or slept 
in, in Philadelphia. 

Walking down again toward the river, and, 
looking in the faces of people, I met a young 
Quaker man, whose countenance I lik’d, and, 
accosting him, requested he would tell me 
where a stranger could get lodging. We were 
then near the: sign of the Three Mariners. 
mi tiere, says he, “is one place that enter- 
tains strangers, but it is “not a reputable 
house; if thee wilt walk with me, I’ll show 
thee a better.” He brought me to the Crooked 
Billet in Water-street. Here I got a dinner; 
and, while I was eating it, several sly ques- 
tions were asked me, as it seemed to be sus- 
pected from my youth and appearance, that I 
might be some runaway. 

After dinner, my sleepiness return’d, and 
being’ shown to a bed, I lay down without un- 
dressing, and slept till six in the evening, 
was call’d to supper, went to bed again very 
early, and slept soundly till next morning. 


50 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


Then I made myself as tidy as I could, and 
went to Andrew Bradford the printer’s. I 
found in the shop the old man his father, 
whom I had seen at New York, and who, 
traveling on horseback, had got to Philadel- 
phia before me. He introduc’d me to his son, 
who receiv’d me civilly, gave me a breakfast, 
but told me he did not at present want a hand, 
being lately suppli’d with one; but there was 
another printer in town, lately set up, one 
Keimer, who, perhaps, might employ me; if 
not, I should be welcome to lodge at his house, 
and he would give me a little work to do now 
and then till fuller business should offer. 

The old gentleman said he would go with 
me to the new printer; and when we found 
him,. “ Neighbour,’ says. Bradford, “I have 
brought to see you a young man of your busi- 
ness; perhaps you may want such a one.” He 
ask’d me a few questions, put a composing 
stick in my hand to see how I work’d, and then 


said he would employ me soon, though he 


had just then nothing for me to do; and, tak- 
ing old Bradford, whom he had never seen 
before, to be one of the town’s people that had 
a good will for him, enter’d into a conversa- 
tion on his present undertaking and prospects; 
while Bradford, not discovering that he was 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY = 51 


the other printer’s father, on Keimer’s saying 
he expected soon to get the greatest part of 
the business into his own hands, drew him 
on by artful questions, and starting little 
doubts, to explain all his views, what interest 
he reli’d on, and in what manner he intended 
to proceed. I, who stood by and heard all, 
saw immediately that one of them was a crafty 
old sophister, and the other a mere novice. 
Bradford left me with Keimer, who was greatly 
surpris’d when I told him who the old man 
was. | 

Keimer’s printing-house, I found, consisted 
of an old shatter’d press, and one small, worn- 
out font of English, which he was then using 
himself, composing an Elegy on Aquilla Rose, 
before mentioned, an ingenious young man, 
of excellent character, much respected in the 
town, clerk of the Assembly, and a pretty 
poet. Keimer made verses too, but very indif- 
_ferently. He could not be said to write them, 
for his manner was to compose them in the 
types directly out of his head. So there being 
no copy,’ but one pair of cases, and the Elegy 
likely to require all the letter, no one could 
help him. I endeavour’d to put his press (which 
he had not yet us’d, and of which he under- 


1 Manuscript. 


UNIVERSITY OF 
ILLINOIS LIBRAR 


52 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


stood nothing) into order fit to be work’d with; 
and, promising to come and print off his Elegy 
as soon as he should have got it ready, I re- 
turn’d to Bradford’s, who gave me a little 
job to do for the present, and there I lodged 
and dieted. A few days after, Keimer sent 
for me to print off the Elegy. And now he 
had got another pair of cases," and a pamphlet 
to reprint, on which he set me to work. 
These two printers I found poorly qualified 
for their business. Bradford had not been bred 
to it, and was very illiterate; and Keimer, tho’ 
something of a scholar, was a mere compositor, 
knowing nothing of presswork. He had been 
one of the Freneh prophets,* and could act 
their enthusiastic agitations. At this time he 
did not profess any particular religion, but. 
something of all on occasion; was very ignorant 
of the world, and had, as I afterward found, a 
good deal of the knave in his composition. He 
did not like my lodging at Bradford’s while I 
work’d with him. He had a house, indeed, 
but without furniture, so he could not lodge 


* The frames for holding type are in two sections, the upper 
for capitals and the lower for small letters. 

* Protestants of the South of France, who became fanatical 
under the persecutions of Louis XIV, and thought they had the 
gift of prophecy. They had as mottoes “No Taxes” and “Lib- 
erty of Conscience.” | 


\ 


FRAN <XLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY _ 353 


me; but he got me a lodging at Mr. Read’s be- 
fore mentioned, who was the owner of his 
house; and, my chest and clothes being come 
by this time, I made rather a more respectable 
appearance in the eyes of Miss Read than I 
‘had done when she first happen’d to see me 
eating my roll in the street. 

I began now to have some acquaintance 
among the young people of the town, that 
were lovers of reading, with whom I spent 
my evenings very pleasantly; and gaining 
money by my industry and frugality, I lived 
very agreeably, forgetting Boston as much as 
I could, and not desiring that any there should 
know where I[ resided, except my friend Collins, 
who was in my secret, and kept it when I wrote 
to him. At length, an incident happened that 
sent me back again much sooner than I had 
intended. I had a_ brother-in-law, Robert 
Holmes, master of a sloop that traded between 
Boston and Delaware. He being at Newcastle, 
forty miles below Philadelphia, heard there of 
me, and wrote me a letter mentioning the con- 
cern of my friends in Boston at my abrupt 
departure, assuring me of their good will to 
me, and that everything would be accommo- 
dated to my mind if I would return, to which 
he exhorted me very earnestly. -I wrote an 


54 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


answer to his letter, thank’d him for his advice, 
but stated my reasons for quitting Boston fully 
and in such a light as to convince him I was 
not so wrong as he had apprehended. 


IV 


FIRST VISTT TO BOSTON 


(rma WILLIAM KEITH, governor of 
Pax ve the province, was then at Newcastle, 
NK and Captain Holmes, happening to 
be in company with him when my 
letter came to hand, spoke to him of me, and 
show’d him the letter. The governor read it, 
and seem’d surpris’d when he was told my 
age. He said I appear’d a young man of prom- 
ising parts, and therefore should be encouraged; 
the printers at Philadelphia were wretched 
ones; and, if I would set up there, he made 
no doubt I should succeed; for his part, he 
would procure me the public business, and do 
me every other service in his power. This my 
brother-in-law afterwards told me in Boston, 
but I knew as yet nothing of it; when, one day, 
Keimer and I being at work together near the 
window, we saw the governor and another 
gentleman (which proved to be Colonel French, 
of Newcastle), finely dress’d, come directly 
across the street to our house, and heard them 
at the door. | 


ty a9 
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alii 
Py, Se - 
‘Wha 
AY Ed ‘ 
Pr 
> salen’ 
= we 
Lee “4 
‘Vor EEN 


ao 


2 FRANKUIN’S AUTOBIOGRAT i 


Keimer ran down immediately, thinking it 
a visit to him; but the governor inquir’d for me, 
came up, and with a condescension and polite- 
ness I had been quite unus’d to, made me many 
compliments, desired to be acquainted with me, 
blam’d me kindly for not having made my- 
self known to him when I first came to the 
place, and would have me away with him to 
the tavern, where he was going with Colonel 
French to taste, as he said, some excellent 
Madeira. I was not a little surprised, and 
Keimer star’d like a pig poison’d.* I went, 
however, with the governor and Colonel French 
to a tavern, at the corner of Third-street, and 
over the Madeira he propos’d my setting up 
my business, laid before me the probabilities 
of success, and both he and Colonel French 
assurd me I should have their interest and 
influence in procuring the public business of 
both governments.” On my doubting whether — 
my father would assist me in it, Sir William 
said he would give me a letter to him, in 
which he would state the advantages, and he 
did not doubt of prevailing with him. So it 
was concluded I should return to Boston in > 


1Temple Franklin considered this specific figure vulgar and 
changed it to ‘‘ stared with astonishment.” 
2 Pennsylvania and Delaware. 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 57 


the first vessel, with the governor’s letter rec- 
ommending me to my father. In the mean- 
time the. intention was to be kept a secret, 
and I went on working with Keimer as usual, 
the governor sending for me now and then 
to dine with him, a very great honour I thought 
it, and conversing with me in the most affable, 
familiar, and friendly manner imaginable. 
About the end of April, 1724, a: little vessel 
offer’d for Boston. I took leave of Keimer 
as going to see my friends. The governor 
gave me an ample letter, saying many flatter- 
ing things of me to my father, and strongly 
recommending the project of my setting up at 
Philadelphia as a thing that must make my 
fortune. We struck on a shoal in going down 
the bay, and sprung a leak; we had a blus- 
tering time at sea, and were oblig’d to pump 
almost continually, at which I took my turn. 
We arriv’d safe, however, at Boston in about 
a fortnight. I had been absent seven months, 
and my friends had heard nothing of me; for 
my br. Holmes was not yet return’d, and had 
not written about me. My unexpected appear- 
ance surpriz’d the family; all were, however, 
very glad to see me, and made me welcome, 
except my brother. I went. to see him at his 
printing-house. I was better dress’d than ever 


58 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


while in his service, having a genteel new suit 
from head to foot, a watch, and iny pockets 
lin’d with near five pounds sterling in silver. 
He receiv’ me not very frankly, look’d me 
all over, and turn’d to his work again. 

The journeymen were inquisitive where I 
had been, what sort of a country it was, and 


how I lik’d it. I prais’d it much, and the happy 
life I led in it, expressing strongly my inten- 
tion of returning to it; and, one of them ask- 
ing what kind of money we had there, I pro- 
duc’d a handful of silver, and spread it be- 
fore them, which was a kind of raree-show~* 
they had not been us’d to, paper being the 
money of Boston.* Then I took an ee. 
1A peep-show in a box. 


2 There were no mints in the colonies, so the metal money was 
of foreign coinage and not nearly so common as paper money, 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY _ 59 


of letting them see my watch; and, lastly (my 
brother still grum and sullen), I gave them 
a piece of eight” to drink, and took my leave. 
This visit of mine offended him extreamly; for, 
when my mother some time after spoke to 
him of a reconciliation, and of her wishes to 
see us on good terms together, and that we 
might live for the future as brothers, he said 
I had insulted him in such a manner before 
his people that he could never forget or for- 
give it. In this, however, he was mistaken. 

My father received the governor’s letter with 
some apparent surprise, but said little of it to 
me for some days, when Capt. Holmes return- 
ing he show’d it to him, asked him if he knew 
Keith, and what kind of man he was; adding 
his opinion that he must be of small discre- 
tion to think of setting a boy up in business 
who wanted yet three years of being at man’s — 
estate. Holmes said what he could in favour 
of the project, but my father was clear in the 
impropriety of it, and at last, gave a flat denial 
to it... Then he wrote a civil letter to Sir 
William, thanking him for the patronage he 
had so kindly offered me, but declining to assist 


which was printed in large quantities in America, even in small 
_ denominations. 
*Spanish dollar about equivalent to our dollar. 


60 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


me as yet in setting up, I being, in his opinion, 
too young to be trusted with the management 
of a business so important, and for which the 
preparation must be so expensive. 

My friend and companion Collins, who was 
a clerk in the post-office, pleas’d with the 
- account I gave him of my new country, deter- 
mined to go thither also; and, while I waited 
for my father’s determination, he set out be- 
fore me by land to Rhode Island, leaving his 
books, which were a pretty collection of mathe- 
maticks and natural philosophy, to come with 
‘mine and me to New York, where he pro- 
pos’'d to wait for me. , 

My father, tho’ he did not approve Sir 
William’s proposition, was yet pleas’d that I 
had been able to obtain, so advantageous a 
character from a person of such note where 
I had resided, and that I had been so indus- 
trious and careful as to equip myself so hand- 
somely in so short a time; therefore, seeing no 
prospect of an accommodation between my 
brother and me, he gave his consent to my re- 
turning again to Philadelphia, advis’d me to 
behave respectfully to the people there, en- 
deavour to obtain the general esteem, and avoid 
lampooning and libeling, to which he thought 
I had too much inclination; telling me, that © 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 61 


by steady industry and a prudent parsimony 
I might save enough by the time I was one- 
and-twenty to set me up; and that, if I came 
neat the matter, he would help me out with 
the rest. This was all I could: obtain, except 
some small gifts as tokens of his and my 
mother’s love, when I embark’d again for New 
York, now with their approbation and their 
blessing. 

The sloop putting in at Newport, Rhode 
Island, I visited my brother John, who had 
been married and settled there some years. He 
received me very affectionately, for he always 
lov'd me. A friend of his, one Vernon, having 
some money due to him in Pensilvania, about - 
thirty-five pounds currency, desired I would 
receive it for him, and keep it till I had his 
directions what to remit it in. Accordingly, 
he gave me an order. This afterwards occa- 
-sion’d me a good deal of uneasiness. 

At Newport we took in a number of pas- 
sengers for New York, among which were two 
young women, companions, and a grave, sen- 
sible, matronlike Quaker woman, with her 
attendants. I had shown an obliging readiness 
‘to do her sorhe little services, which impress’d 
her I suppose with a degree of good will 
toward me; therefore, when she saw a daily 


62 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


growing familiarity between me and the two 
young women, which they appear’d to en- 
courage, she took me aside, and said, “ Young 
man, I am concern’d for thee, as thou hast 
no friend with thee, and seems not to know 
much of the world, or of the snares youth 
is expos’d to; depend upon it, those are 
very bad women; .1 can {see (167 in au 
their actions; and if thee art nog upon 
thy guard, they will draw thee into some dan- 
ger; they are strangers to thee, and I advise 
thee, in a friendly concern for thy welfare, 
to have no acquaintance with them.” As I 
seem’d at first not to think so ill of them as 
she did, she mentioned some things she had 
observ’d and heard that had escap’d my notice, 
but now convine’d me she was right. I thank’d 
her for her kind advice, and promis’d to follow 
it. When we arrivd at New York, they told 
me where they liv’d, and invited me to come 
and see them; but I avoided it, and it was 
well I did; for the next day the captain miss’d 
a silver spoon and some other things, that had 
been taken out of his cabbin, and, knowing 
that these were a couple of strumpets, he got 
a warrant to search their lodgings, found the 
stolen goods, and had the thieves punish’d. 
So, tho’ we had escap’d a sunken rock, which 


FRANKUIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 63. 


we scrap’d upon in the passage, I thought this 
escape of rather more importance to me. 

At New York I found my friend Collins, 
who had arriv’d there some time before me. 
We had been intimate from children, and had 
read the same books together; but he had the 
advantage of more time for reading and study- 
ing, and a wonderful genius for mathematical 
learning, in which he far outstript me. While 
I liv’d in Boston, most of my hours of leisure 
for conversation were spent with him, and he 
continu’d a sober as well as an industrious lad; 
was much respected for his learning by several 
of the clergy and other gentlemen, and seemed 
to promise making a good figure in life. But, 
during my absence, he had acquir’d a habit of 
sotting with brandy; and I found by his own 
account, and what I heard from others, that 
he had been drunk every day since his arrival 
at New York, and behav’d very oddly. He 
had gam’d, too, and lost his money, so that 
I was oblig’d to discharge his lodgings, and 
defray his expenses to and at Philadelphia, 
which prov’d extremely inconvenient to me. 

The then governor of New York, Burnet 
(son of Bishop Burnet), hearing from the cap- 
tain that a young man, one of his passengers, 
had a great many books, desir’d he would bring 


64 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


me to see him. I waited upon him accordingly, 
and should have taken Collins with me but 
that he was not sober. The govr. treated me 
with great civility, show’d me his library, which 
was a very large one, and we had a good deal 
of conversation about books and authors. This 
was the second governor who had done me the 
honour to take notice of me; which, to a poor 
boy like me, was very pleasing. 

We proceeded to Philadelphia. I received 
on the way Vernon’s money, without which 
we could hardly have finish’d our journey. 
Collins wished to be employ’d in some count- 
ing-house; but, whether they discover’d his 
dramming by his breath, or by his behaviour, 
tho’ he had some recommendations, he met with 
no success in any application, and continu’d 
lodging and boarding at the same house with 
me, and at my expense. Knowing I had that 
money of Vernon’s, he was continually bor- 
rowing of me, still promising repayment as 
soon as he should be in business. At length 
he had got so much of it that I was distress’d 
to think what I should do in case of Bite 
eall don ato remit: ‘it. 

His drinking continu’d, about which we some- 
times quarrel’d; for, when a little intoxicated, 
he was very fractious. Once, in a boat on the 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY § 65 


Delaware with some other young men, he re-. 


fused to row in his turn. “I will be row’d 
home,” says he. “ We will not row you,” says 
I. “ You must, or stay all night on the water,” 


says he, “just as you please.” The others 
said, “Let us row; what signifies it?” But, 
my mind being soured with his other conduct, 
I continu’d to refuse. So he swore he would 
make me row, or throw me overboard; and 
coming along, stepping on the thwarts, toward 
me, when he came up and struck at me, I 
clapped my hand under his crutch, and, rising, 
pitched him head-foremost into the river. I 
knew he was a good swimmer, and so was under 
little concern about him; but before he could 
get round to lay hold of the boat, we had with 
a few strokes pull’d her out of his reach; and 
ever when he drew near the boat, we ask’d if 
he would row, striking a few strokes to slide 
her away from him. He was ready to die with 
vexation, and obstinately would not promise to 
row. However, seeing him at last beginning 
to tire, we lifted him in and brought him home 
dripping wet in the evening. We hardly ex- 
chane’d a civil word afterwards, and a West 
India captain, who had a commission to pro- 
cure a tutor for the sons of a gentleman at 
Barbados, happening to meet with him, agreed 


4 
% 


66 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


to carry him thither. He left me then, prom- 
ising to remit me the first money he should 
receive in order to discharge the debt; but I 
never heard. of him after. | 
The breaking into this money of Vernon’s 
“was one of the first great errata of my life; 
_ and this affair show’d that my father was not 
much out in his judgment when he suppos’d 
me too young to manage business of impor- 
, tance. But Sir William, on reading his letter, 
said he was too prudent. There was great dif- 
ference in persons; and discretion did not always 
accompany years, nor was youth always 
without it. “ And since he will not set you up,” 
says he, “I will do it myself. Give me an 
inventory of the things necessary to be had 
from England, and I will-send for them. You 
_ shall repay me when you are able; I am resolv d | 
to have a good printer here, and I am sure you 
must succeed.” This was spoken with such 
an appearance of cordiality, that I had not the 
least doubt of his meaning what he said. I 
had hitherto kept the proposition of my setting 
up, a secret in Philadelphia, and I still kept 
it. Had it been known that I depended on the 
governor, probably some friend, that knew him 
better, would have advis’d me not to rely on 
him, as I afterwards heard it as his known — 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


character to be liberal of promises which he 
never meant to keep. Yet, unsolicited as he 
was by me, how could [I think his generous 
offers insincere? I believ’d him one of the best 
men in the world. 

I presented him an inventory of a little 
print’-house, amounting by my computation 
to about one hundred pounds sterling. He lik’d 
it, but ask’d me if my being on the spot in Eng- 
land to chuse the types, and see that everything 
was good of the kind, might not be of some 
advantage. “Then,’ says he, “when there, 
you may make acquaintances, and establish 
correspondences in the bookselling and _ sta- 
tionery way.” I agreed that this might be ad- 
vantageous. “Then,” says he, “get yourself 
ready to go with Annis;” which was the annual 
ship, and the only one at that time usually 
passing between London and Philadelphia. But 
it would be some months before Annis sail’d, so 
I continu’d working with Keimer, fretting about 
the money Collins had got from me, and in 
daily apprehensions of being call’d upon by 
Vernon, which, however, did not happen for 
some years after. 

I believe I have omitted mentioning that, in 
my first voyage from Boston, being becalm’d 
off Block Island, our people set about catching 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


cod, and hauled up a great many. Hitherto I 
had stuck to my resolution of not eating animal 
food,-and on this occasion I consider’d, with 
my master Tryon, the taking every fish as a 
kind of unprovoked murder, since none of them 
had, or ever could do us any injury that might 
justify the slaughter. All this seemed very 
reasonable. But I had formerly been a great 
lover of fish, and, when this came hot out of 
- the frying-pan, it smelt admirably well. I bal- 
anc’d some time between principle and inclina- 
tion, till I recollected that, when the fish were 
opened, I saw smaller fish taken out of their 


stomachs; then thought I, “If you eat one 
another, I don’t see why we mayn’t eat you.” 
So I din’d upon cod very heartily, and continued 


to eat with other people, returning only now 
and then occasionally to a vegetable diet. So 
convenient a thing is it to be a reasonable 
creature, since it enables one to find or make 
a reason for everything one has a mind to do. 


a 


EARLY FRIENDS IN PHILADELPHIA 


‘59.494 EIMER and I liv’d on a pretty good 
familiar footing, and agreed toler- 
ably well, for he suspected nothing 
| oDimy setting) up. de! retained) ‘a 
great deal of his old enthusiasms and lov’d 
argumentation. We therefore had many dis- 
putations. I used to work him so with my 
Socratic method, and had trepann’d him so 
often by questions apparently so distant from 
any point we had in hand, and yet by degrees 
led to the point, and brought him into difh- 
culties and contradictions, that at last he grew 
ridiculously cautious, and would hardly answer 
me the most common question, without asking 
first, “ What do you intend to infer from that?” 
However, it gave him so high an opinion of my | 
abilities in the confuting way, that he seriously 
proposed my being his colleague in a project 
he had of setting up a new sect. He was to 
preach the doctrines, and I was to confound 
all opponents. When he came to explain with 


i1e upon the doctrines, I found several conun-. 
69 


| 

| 
{ 
i 


\ 


o FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


drums which I objected to, unless I might have 
my way a little too, and introduce some of © 
mine. ? 
Keimer wore his beard at full length, because 
somewhere in the Mosaic law it is said, “ Thou 
shalt not mar the corners of thy beard.’ He 
likewise kept the Seventh day, Sabbath; and 
these two points were essentials with him. 
I dislik’d both; but agreed to admit them upon 
condition of his adopting the doctrine of using 
no animal food. “I doubt,” said he, “my con- 
stitution will not bear that.” I assur’d him it 
would, and that he would be the better for it. 
He was usually a great glutton, and I prom- 
ised myself some diversion in half starving him. 
He agreed to try the practice, if I would keep 
him company. I did so, and we held it for 
three months. We had our victuals dress’d, 
and brought to us regularly by a woman in the 
neighborhood, who had from me a list of forty 
dishes, to be prepar’d for us at different times, 
in all which there was neither fish, flesh, nor 
fowl, and the whim suited me the better at this 
time from the cheapness of it, not costing us 
above eighteenpence sterling each per week. I 
have since kept several Lents most strictly, 
leaving the common diet for that, and that for 
the common, abruptly, without the least incon- 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 71. 


venience, so that I think there is little in the 
advice of making those changes by easy grada- 
tions: I went on pleasantly, but poor Keimer 
suffered grievously, tired of the project, long’d 
for the flesh-pots of Egypt, and order’d a roast 
pig. He invited me and two women friends to 
dine with him; but, it being brought too soon 
upon table, he could not resist the temptation, 
and ate the whole before we came. 

I had made some courtship during this time 
to Miss Read. I hada great respect and affection 
for her, and had some reason to believe she had 
the same for me; but, as I was about to take a 
long voyage, and we were both very young, 
only a little above eighteen, it was thought most 
prudent by her mother to prevent our going too 
far at present, as a marriage, if it was to take 
place, would be more convenient after my re- 
turn, when I should be, as I expected, set up in 
my business. Perhaps, too, she thought my ex- 
pectations not so well founded as I imagined 

them to be. : 
My chief acquaintances at this* time were 
Charles Osborne, Joseph Watson, and James 
Ralph, all lovers of reading. The two first were 
clerks to an eminent scrivener or conveyancer 
in the town, Charles Brogden; the .other was 
clerk to a merchant. Watson was a pious, 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


72 

sensible young man, of great integrity; the 
others rather more lax in their principles of re- 
ligion, particularly Ralph, who, as well as Col- 
lins, had been unsettled by me, for which they 
both made me suffer. Osborne was _ sensible, 


candid, frank; sincere and affectionate to his 
friends; but, in literary matters, too fond of 
criticizing. Ralph was ingenious, genteel in 
his manners, and extremely eloquent; I think 
I never knew a prettier talker. Both or tucm 
were great admirers of poetry, and began to 
try their hands in little pieces. Many pleasant 
walks we four had together on Sundays into - 
the woods, near Schuylkill; where we read to 
one another, and conferr’d on what we read. 
Ralph was inclin’d to pursue the study of 


poetry, not doubting but he might become emi- ~ 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 73 


N 


nent in it, and make his fortune by it, alleging 
that the best poets must, when they first began 
to ‘write, make as many faults as he did. Os- 
borne dissuaded him, assur’d him he had no 
genius for poetry, and advis’d him to think of 
nothing beyond the business he was bred to; 
that, in the mercantile way, tho’ he had no 
stock, he might, by his diligence and punctu- 
ality, recommend himself to employment as a 
factor, and in time acquire wherewith to trade 
on his own account. I approv’d the amusing 
one’s self with poetry now and then, so far 
as to improve one’s language, but.no farther. 
On this it was propos’d that we should each 
of us, at our next meeting, produce a piece of 
our own composing, in order to improve by our 
mutual observations, criticisms, and corrections. 
As language and expression were what we had 
in view, we excluded all considerations .of in- 
vention by agreeing that the task should be a 
version of the eighteenth Psalm, which de- 
scribes the descent of a Deity. When the time 
of our meeting drew nigh, Ralph called on me 
first, and let me know his piece was ready. I 
told him I had been busy, and, having little 
inclination, had done nothing. He then show’d 
me his piece for my opinion, and I much ap- 
- prov’d it, as it appear’d to me to have great 


; 74 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


merit. ‘‘ Now,” says he, “Osborne never will 

allow the least merit in anything of mine, but 
makes 1000 criticisms out of mere envy. He is 
not so jealous of you; I wish, therefore, you 
would take this piece, and produce it as yours; 
I will pretend not to have had time, and so 
produce nothing. We shall then see what he 
will say to it.” It was agreed, and I immedi- 
ately transcrib’d it, that it might appear in my 
own hand. 

We met; Watson’s performance was read; 
there. were some beauties in it, but many de- 
fects. Osborne’s was read; it was much better; 
Ralph did it justice; remarked some faults, but 
applauded the beauties. He himself had nothing 
to produce. I was backward; seemed desirous 
of being excused; had not had sufficient time 
to correct, etc.; but no excuse could be ad- 
mitted; produce I must. It was read and re- 
peated; Watson and Osborne gave up the con- 
test, and join’d in applauding it. Ralph only 
made some criticisms, and propos’d some 
amendments; but I defended my text. Osborne 
was against Ralph, and told him he was no 
better a critic than poet, so he dropt the argu- 
ment. As they two went home together, Os- 
borne expressed himself still more strongly in 
favor of what he thought my production; hay- 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


ing restrain’d himself before, as he said, fest 
I should think it flattery. ‘“ But who would 
have imagin’d,’ said he, “that Franklin 
had been capable of such a_ performance; 
such painting, such force, such fire! He 
has even improv’d the original. In his com- 
mon conversation he seems to have no choice 
of words; he hesitates and blunders; and yet, 
good God! how he writes!” When we next 
met, Ralph discovered the trick we had plaid 
him, and Osborne was a little laughed at. 
This transaction fixed Ralph in his resolu- 
tion of becoming a poet. I did all I could to 
dissuade him from it, but he continued scrib- 
bling verses till Pope cured him.* He became, — 
however, a pretty good prose writer. More of 
him hereafter. But, as I may not have occa- 
sion again to mention the other two, I shall 
just remark here, that Watson died in my arms 
a few years after, much lamented, being the 
best of our set. Osborne went to the West 
Indies, where he became an eminent lawyer and 


1“Tn one of the later editions of the Dunciad occur the follow- 
ing lines: 
‘Silence, ye wolves! while Ralph to Cynthia howls, 
And makes night hideous—answer him, ye owls.’ 
To this the poet adds the following note: 
‘James Ralph, a name inserted after the first editions, not 
known till he writ a swearing-piece called Sawney, very abusive 
of Dr. Swift, Mr. Gay, and myself.’” 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


made money, but died young. He and I had 
made a serious agreement, that the one who 
happen’d first to die should, if possible, make 
a friendly visit to the other, and acquaint him 
how he found things in that separate state. But ° 
he never fulfill’d his promise. 


VE 


BURRS DVS TT LO-LONDON 


ca wea iE governor, seeming to like my 
UD company, had me frequently to his 
oS va i) house, and his setting me up was 
= always mention’d as a fixed thing. 
I was to take with me letters. recommendatory 
to a number of his friends, besides the letter 
of credit to furnish me with the necessary 
money for purchasing the press and types, 
paper, etc. For these letters I was appointed 
to call at different times, when they were to 
be ready; but a future time was still named. 
Thus he went on till the ship, whose departure 
too had been several times postponed, was on 
the point of sailing. Then, when I call’d to 
take my leave and receive the letters, his secre- 
tary, Dr. Bard, came out to me and said the 
governor was extremely busy in writing, but 
would be down at Newcastle, before the ship, 
and there the letters would be delivered to me. 
~ Ralph, though married, and having one child, 
had determined to accompany me in this voy- 


age. It was thought he intended to establish 
77 


7 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


a correspondence, and obtain goods to sell on 
commission; but I found afterwards, that, thro’ 
some discontent with his wife’s relations, he 
purposed to leave her on their hands, and never 
return again. Having taken leave of my friends, 
and interchang’d some promises with Miss 
Read, I left Philadelphia in the ship, which 
anchor’d at Newcastle. The governor was 
there; but when I went to his lodging, the sec- 
retary came to me from him with the civillest 
message in the world, that he could not then 
see me, being engaged in business of the ut- 
most importance, but should send the letters 
to me on board, wished me heartily a good 
voyage and a speedy return, etc. I returned on 
board a little puzzled, but still not doubting. 
Mr. Andrew Hamilton, a famous lawyer of 
Philadelphia, had taken passage in the same 
ship for himself and son, and with Mr. Denham, 
a Quaker merchant, and Messrs. Onion and 
Russel, masters of an iron work in Maryland, 
had engaged the great cabin; so that Ralph and 
I were forced to take up with a berth in the 
steerage, and none on board knowing us, were 
considered as ordinary persons. But Mr. Ham- 
ilton and his son (it was James, since gov- 
ernor) return’d from Newcastle to Philadel- 
phia, the father being recall’d by a great fee 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 79 


‘to plead for a seized ship; and, just before 
we sail’d, Colonel French coming on board, 
and showing me great respect, I was more 
taken notice of, and, with my friend Ralph, in- 
vited by the other gentlemen to come into the 
cabin, there being now room. Accordingly, 
we remov’d thither. : 
Understanding that Colonel French had 
brought on board the governor’s despatches, 
I ask’d the captain for those letters that were 
to be under my care. He said all were put 
into the bag together and he could not then 
come at them; but, before we landed in Eng- 
land, I should have an opportunity of picking 
them out; so I was satisfied for the present, 
and we proceeded on our voyage. We had a 
sociable company in the cabin, and lived un- 
commonly well, having the addition of all Mr. 
Hamilton’s stores, who had laid in plentifully. 
In this passage Mr. Denham contracted a friend- 
ship for me that continued during his life. The 
voyage was otherwise not a pleasant one, as 
we had a great deal of bad weather. 

When we came into the Channel, the cap- 
tain kept his word with me, and gave me an 
opportunity of examining the bag for the gov- 
ernor’s letters. I found none upon which my 
name was put as under my care. I picked out 


80 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


six or seven, that, by the handwriting, I thought 
might be the promised letters, especially as one 
of them was directed to Basket, the king’s 
printer, and another to some stationer. We 
arriv’d in London the 24th of December, 1724. 
I waited upon the ‘stationer, who cane first 
' in my way, delivering the letter as from Goy- 
ernor Keith. “I don’t know such a ed _ 


Gl eG MM _ 
aay “ AS 


| rae mL 
—F 


ih 
ua 


sy. 


says he; but, opening the letter, “@! this’ is 
from Riddlesden. I have lately found him to 
be a compleat rascal, and I will have nothing 
to do with him, nor receive any letters from 
him.” So, putting the letter into my hand, he 
turn’d on his heel and left me to serve some 
customer. I was surprized to find these were- 
not the governor’s letters; and, after recollect- 
ing and comparing circumstances, I began to 


Phenol Ne AU TOBTOGRAPHY )’ '$ 


doubt his sincerity. I found my friend Den- 
ham, and opened the whole affair to him. He 
let me into Keith’s character; told me there 
was not the least probability that he had writ- 
ten any letters for me; that no one, who knew 
him, had the smallest dependence on him; and 
he laught at the notion of the governor’s giy- 
ing me a letter of credit, having, as he said, 
no credit to give. On my expressing some 
concern about what I should do, he advised 
me to endeavour getting some employment in 
the way,of my business. “ Among the printers 
here,’ said he, “ you will improve yourself, and 
when you return to America, you will set up 
to greater advantage.” 

_ We both of us happen’d to know, as well as 
the stationer, that Riddlesden, the attorney, 
was a very knave. He had half ruin’d Miss 
Read’s father by persuading him to be bound 
for him. By this letter it appear’d there was 
a secret scheme on foot to the prejudice of 
Hamilton (suppos’d to be then coming over 
with us); and that Keith was concerned in it 
with Riddlesden. Denham, who was a friend 
of Hamilton’s, thought he ought to be ac- 
*quainted with it; so, when he arriv’d in Eng- 
land, which was soon after, partly from resent- 
ment and ill-will to Keith and Riddlesden, and 


Pm FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


partly from good-will to him, I waited on 
him, and gave him the letter. He thankd 
me cordially, the information being of i1m- 
portance to him; and from that time he be- 
came my friend, greatly to my advantage after- 
wards on many occasions. 

But what shall we think of a - governor’s” 
playing such pitiful tricks, and imposing so 
grossly on a poor ignorant boy! It was a 
habit he had acquired. He wish’d to please 
everybody; and, having little to give, he gave 
expectations. He was otherwise an ingenious, 
sensible man, a pretty good writer, and a good 
governor for the people, tho’ not for his con- 
stituents, the proprietaries, whose instructions 
he sometimes disregarded. Several of our best 
laws were of his planning and passed olde 
his administration. 

Ralph and I were noe naaiia companions. 
We took lodgings together in Little Britain’ 
at three shillings and sixpence a week—as 
much as we could then afford. He found some 
relations, but they were poor, and unable to 
assist him. He now let me know his inten- © 
tions of remaining in London, and that he 


1One of the oldest parts of London, north of St. Paul’s Ca- 
thedral, called “Little Britain’ because the Dukes of Brittany 
used to live there. See the essay entitled “Little Britain” in 
Washington. Irving’s Sketch Book. 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY _ 83 


never meant to return to Philadelphia. He 
had brought no money with him, the whole 
he could muster having been expended in pay- 
ing his passage. I had fifteen pistoles;* so 
he borrowed occasionally of me to subsist, 
while he was looking out for business. He 
first endeavoured to get into the play-house, 
believing himself qualify’d for an actor; but 
Wilkes,” to whom he apply’d, advis’d him can- 
didly not to think of that employment, as it 
was impossible he should succeed in it. Then 
he propos’d to Roberts, a publisher in Pater- 
noster Row, to write for him a weekly paper 
like the Spectator, on certain conditions, which 
Roberts did not approve. Then he endeav- 
oured to get employment as a hackney writer, 
to copy for the stationers and lawyers about 
the Temple,* but could find no vacancy. 

I immediately got into work at. Palmer’s, 
then a famous printing-house in Bartholomew 
Close, and here I continu’d near a year. I was 
pretty diligent, but spent with Ralph a good 
deal of my earnings in going to plays and 

- other places of amusement. We had together 
2A gold coin worth about four dollars in our money. 

2A popular comedian, manager of Drury Lane Theater. 

3 Street north of St. Paul’s, occupied by publishing houses. 


*Law schools and lawyers’ residences situated southwest of St. 
Paul’s, between Fleet Street and the Thames. 


84 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


consumed all my pistoles, and now just rubbed 
on from hand to mouth. He seem’d quite to 
forget his wife and child, and I, by degrees, 
my engagements with Miss Read, to whom I 
never wrote more than one letter, and that 
was to let her know I was not likely soon 
to return. This was another of the great 
errata of my life, which I should wish to cor- 
rect if I were to live it over again. In fact, by 
our expenses, I was constantly kept unable to 
pay my passage. 

At Palmer’s I was employed in composing 
for the second edition of Wollaston’s “ Re- 
ligion of Nature.” Some of his reasonings not 
appearing to me well founded, I wrote a little 
metaphysical piece in which I made remarks 
on them. It was entitled “A Dissertation on 
Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain.” 
I inscribed it to my friend Ralph; I printed a 
small number. It occasion’d my being more 
consider’d by Mr. Palmer as a young man of 
some ingenuity, tho’ he seriously expostulated 
with me upon the principles of my pamphlet, 
which to him appear’d abominable, My print- 
ing this pamphlet was another erratum. 

While I lodg’d in Little Britain, I made an 
acquaintance with one Wilcox, a_ bookseller, 
whose shop was at the next door. He had an 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 85 


immense collection of second-hand books. Cir- 
culating libraries were not then in use; but 
we agreed that, on certain reasonable terms, 
which I have now forgotten, I might take, 
read, and return any of his books. This I 
esteem’d a great advantage, and I made as 
much use of it as I could. 

My pamphlet by some means falling into the 
hands of one Lyons, a surgeon, author of a 
book entitled “ The Infallibility of Human Judg- 
ment,” it occasioned an acquaintance between 
us. He took great notice of me, called on me 
often to converse on those subjects, carried 
me to the Horns, a pale alehouse in 
Lane, Cheapside, and introduced me to Dr. 
Mandeville, author of the “ Fable of the Bees,” 
who had a club there, of which he was the 
soul, being a most facetious, entertaining com- 
panion. Lyons, too, introduced me to Dr. Pem- 
_berton, at Batson’s Coffee-house, who prom- 
isd to give me an opportunity, sometime or 
other, of seeing Sir Isaac Newton, of which 
I was extreamly desirous; but this never hap- 
pened. 

I had brought over a few curiosities, among 
which the principal was a purse made of the 
asbestos, which. purifies by fire. Sir Hans 
Sloane heard of it, came to see me, and in- 


86 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


vited me to his house in Bloomsbury Square, 
where he show’d me all his curiosities, and 
persuaded me to let him add that to the num- 
ber, for which he paid me handsomely. 

In our house there lodg’d a young woman, 
a milliner, who, I think, had a shop in the 
Cloisters. She had been genteelly bred, was 
sensible and lively, and of most pleasing con- 
versation. Ralph read plays to her in the 
evenings, they grew intimate, she took another 
lodging, and he followed her. They liv’d to- 
gether some time; but, he being still out of 
business, and her income not sufficient to main- 
tain them with her child, he took a resolution 
of going from London, to try for a country 
school, which he thought himself well qualified 
to undertake, as he wrote an excellent- hand, 
and was a master of arithmetic and accounts. 
This, however, he deemed a business below 
him, and confident of future better fortune, 
when he should be unwilling to have it known 
that he once was so meanly employed, he 
changed his name, and did me the honour to 
assume mine; for I soon after had a letter from 
him, acquainting me that he was settled in a 
small village (in Berkshire, I think it was, 
where he taught reading and writing to ten or 
a dozen boys, at sixpence each per week), rec- 


PRN UENO AWLORB POGRAPHY |) 87 


ommending Mrs. T to my care, and de- 
siring me to write to him, directing for Mr. 
Franklin, schoolmaster, at such a place. 

He continued to write frequently, sending 
me large specimens of an epic poem which he 
was then composing, and desiring my remarks 
and corrections. These I gave him from time 
to time, but endeavour’d rather to discourage 
his proceeding. One of Young’s Satires* was 
then just published. I copy’d and sent him a 
great part of it, which set in a strong light 
the folly of pursuing the Muses with any hope 
of advancement by them. All was in vain; 
sheets of the poem continued to come by every 
post. In the meantime, Mrs. T , having 
on his account lost her friends and business, 
was often in distresses, and us’d to send for 
me and borrow what I could spare to help her 
out of them. I grew fond of her company, 
and, being at that time under no religious re- 
straint, and presuming upon my importance 
to her, I attempted familiarities (another 
erratum) which she repuls’d with a proper 
resentment, and acquainted him with my be- 
haviour. This made a breach between us; 
and, when he returned again to London, he let 


1Edward Young (1681-1765), an English poet. See his satires, 
Vol. III, Epist. ii, page 70. 


88 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


me know he thought I had cancell’d all the 


obligations he had been under to’ me So" @ 


found I was never to expect his repaying me 
what I lent to him or advanc’d for him, This, 


however, was not then of much consequence, ~ 


as he was totally unable; and in the loss of his 
friendship I found myself relieved from a 
burthen. I now began to think of getting 
a little money beforehand, and, expecting bet- 
ter work, I left Palmer’s to work at Watts’s, 
near Lincoln’s Inn Fields, a still greater print- 
ing-house.’ Here I continued all the rest of 
my stay in London. | 

At my first admission into this printing- 
house I took to working at press, imagining 
I felt a want of the bodily exercise I had been 
us'd to in America, where presswork is mix’d 
with composing. I drank only water; the other 
workmen, near fifty in number, were great 
_guzzlers of beer. On occasion, I Carried ap 
and down stairs a large form of types in each 
hand, when others carried but one in both 
hands. They wondered to see, from this and 
several instances, that the Water-American, as 
they called me, was stronger than themselves, 
who drank strong beer! We had an alehouse boy 


* The printing press at which Franklin worked is preserved in 
the Patent Office at Washington. 


we ie ae 


PRANKUIN'S, AUTOBTOGRAPHY..”” $9 


who attended always in the house to supply the 
workmen. My companion at the press drank 
every day a pint before breakfast, a pint at 
breakfast with his bread and cheese, a pint.. 
between breakfast and dinner, a pint at dinner, 
a pint in the afternoon about six o’clock, and 
another when he had done his day’s work. I 
thought it a detestable custom; but it was 
necessary, he suppos’d, to drink strong beer, 
that he might be strong to labour. I endeav- 
oured to convince him that the bodily strength 
afforded by beer could only be in proportion 
to the grain or flour of the barley dissolved in 
the water of which it was made; that there 
was more flour in a pennyworth of bread; and 
therefore, if he would eat that with a pint of 
water, it would give him more strength than a 
quart of beer. He drank on, however, and had 
four or five shillings to pay out of his wages 
every Saturday night for that muddling liquor; 
an expense I was free from. And thus these 
poor devils keep themselves always under. 
Watts, after some weeks, desiring to have 
me in the composing-room,’ I left the press- 
men; a new bien venu or sum for drink, being 
. 1Franklin now left the work of operating the printing presses, 


which was largely a matter of manual labor, and began setting 
type, which required more skill and intelligence. 


90 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


five shillings, was demanded of me by the 
compositors. I thought it an imposition, as I 
had paid below; the master thought so: too, 
and forbade my paying it. I stood out two or 
three weeks, was accordingly considered as an 
excommunicate, and had so many little pieces 
of private mischief done me, by mixing my 
sorts, transposing my pages, breaking my 
matter, etc., etc., if I were ever so little out 
of the room, and all ascribed to the chappel 
ghost, which they said ever haunted those not 


regularly admitted, that, notwithstanding the 


master’s protection, I found myself oblig’d toe 
comply and pay the money, convine'd of the 
folly of being on ill terms with those one is 
to live with continually. 

I was now on a fair footing with them, and 
soon acquir’d considerable influence. I pro- 


pos’d some reasonable alterations in their chap- — 


pel laws,’ and carried them against all opposi- 
tion. From my example, a great part of them 
left their muddling breakfast of beer, and bread, 


and cheese, finding they could with me be sup-. 


ply’d from a neighbouring house with a large 
porringer of hot water-gruel, sprinkled with 
1A printing house is called a chapel because Caxton, the first 


English printer, did his printing in a chapel connected with West- 
minster Abbey. 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY | gor 


pepper, crumb’d with bread, and a bit of butter 
in it, for the price of a pint of beer, viz., three 
half-pence. This was a more comfortable as 
well as cheaper breakfast, and“keep their heads 
clearer. Those who continued sotting with 
beer all day, were often, by not paying, out 
of credit at the alehouse, and us’d to make in- 
terest with me to get beer; their /ight, as they 
phrased it, bezng out. I watch’d the pay-table 
on Saturday night, and collected what I stood 
engag’d for them, having to pay sometimes 
near thirty shillings a week on their accounts. 
This, and my being esteem’d a pretty good 
riggite, that is, a jocular verbal satirist, sup- 
ported my consequence in the society. My 
constant attendance (I never making a St. 
Monday)* recommended me to the master; and 
my. uncommon quickness at composing occa- 
-sioned my being put upon all work of dispatch, 
which was generally better paid. So I went on 
now very agreeably. | 

My lodging in Little Britain being too re- 
mote, I found another in Duke-street, oppo- 
site to the Romish Chapel. It was two pair 
of stairs backwards, at an Italian warehouse. 
A widow lady kept the house; she had a daugh- 


* 


ter, and a maid servant, and a journeyman who 
2 A holiday taken to prolong the dissipation of Saturday’s wages. ° 


92 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


attended the warehouse, but lodg’d abroad. 
After sending to inquire my character at 
the house where I. last lodg’d she agreed to 
take me in at the same rate, 3s. 6d. per week; 
cheaper, as she said, from the protection she 
expected in having a man lodge in the house. 
She was a widow, an elderly woman; had been 
bred a Protestant, being a clergyman’s daugh- 
ter, but was converted to the Catholic religion 
by her husband, whose memory she much re- 
vered; had lived much among people of dis- 
tinction, and knew a thousand anecdotes of 
them as far back as the times of Charles the 
Second. She was lame in her knees with the 
gout, and, therefore, seldom stirred out of her 
room, so sometimes wanted company; and hers 
was so highly amusing to me, that I was sure 
to spend an evening with her whenever she 
desired it. Our supper was only half an 
anchovy each, on a very little strip of bread 
and butter, and half a pint of ale between us; 
but the entertainment was in her conversation. 
My always keeping good hours, and giving little 
trouble in the family, made her unwilling to 
part with me, so that, when I talk’d of a lodg-— 
ing I had heard of, nearer my business, for two 
shillings a week, which, intent as I now was 
on saving money, made some difference, she 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY — 93 


bid me not think of it, for she would abate me 
two shillings a week for the future; so I re- 
mained with her at one shilling and sixpence 
as long as I staid in London. 

In a garret of her house there lived a maiden 
lady of seventy, in the most retired manner, 
of whom my landlady gave me this account: 
that she was a Roman Catholic, had been sent 
abroad when young, and lodg’d in a nunnery 
with an intent of becoming a nun; but, the 
country not agreeing with her, she returned 
to England, where, there being no nunnery, she 
had vow’d to lead the life of a nun, as near as 
might be done in those circumstances. Ac- 
cordingly, she had given all her estate to 
charitable uses, reserving only twelve pounds 
a year to live on, and out of this sum she still 
gave a great deal in charity, living herself on 
water-gruel only, and using no fire but to boil 
it. She had lived many years in that garret, 
being permitted to remain there gratis by suc- 
cessive Catholic tenants of the house below, 
as they deemed it a blessing to have her there. 
A priest visited her to confess her every day. 
“I have ask’d her,” says my landlady, “how 
she, as she liv’d, could possibly find so much 
employment for a confessor?” ‘“ Oh,” said she, 
“it is impossible to avoid vain thoughts.’ I 


94 jFFRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


was permitted once to visit her. She was 
cheerful and polite, and convers’d pleasantly. 
The room was clean, but had no other furni- 
ture than a matras, a table with a crucifix and 
book, a stool which she gave me to sit on, and 
a picture over the chimney of Saint Veronica 
displaying her handkerchief, with the mirac- 
ulous figure of Christ’s bleeding face on it,’ 
which she explained to me with great serious-! 
ness. She look’d pale, but was never sick; 
and I give it as another instance on how small 
an income, life and health may be supported. 

At Watts’s printing-house I contracted an 
acquaintance with an ingenious young man, 
one Wygate, who, having wealthy relations, 
had been better educated than most printers; 
was a tolerable Latinist, spoke French, and 
lov’d reading. I taught him and a friend of 
his to swim at twice going into the river, and 
they soon became good swimmers. They in- 
troduc’d me to some gentlemen from the coun- 
try, who went to Chelsea by water to see the 
College and Don Saltero’s curiosities.” In our 


1The story is that she met Christ on His way to crucifixion 
and offered Him her handkerchief to wipe the blood from His — 
face, after which the handkerchief always bore the image of 
Christ’s bleeding face. 

2 James Salter, a former servant of Hans Sloane, lived in Cheyne 
Walk, Chelsea. “His house, a barber-shop, was known as ‘ Don 
Saltero’s Coffee-House.’ The curiosities were in glass cases and 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY _— 95 


return, at the request of the company, whose 
curiosity Wygate had excited, I stripped and 
leaped into the river, and swam from near 
Chelsea to Blackfryar’s,, performing on the 
way many feats of activity, both upon and un- 
der water, that surpris’d and pleas’d those to 
whom they were novelties. 

I had from a child been ever delighted with 
this exercise, had studied and practis’d all 
Thevenot’s motions and positions, added some - 
of my own, aiming at the graceful and easy 
as well as the useful. All these I took this 
occasion of exhibiting to the company, and 
was much flatter’'d by their admiration; and 
Wygate, who was desirous of becoming a mas- 
ter, grew more and more attach’d to me on 
that account, as well as from the similarity 
of our studies. He at length proposed to me 
traveling all over Europe together, support- 
ing ourselves everywhere by working at our 
business. I was once inclined to it; but, men- 
tioning it to my good friend Mr. Denham, with 
whom I often spent an hour when I had leisure, 
he dissuaded me from it, advising me to think 
constituted an amazing and motley collection—a petrified crab. 
_ from China, a ‘lignified hog,’ Job’s tears, Madagascar lances, Wil- 
liam the Conqueror’s flaming sword, and Henry the Eighth’s coat 


of mail.”—Smyth. 
* About three miles. 


96 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOQGERAt a. 


only of returning to Pennsilvania, which he 
was now about to do. 

I must record one trait of this good man’s 
character. He had formerly been in business 
at Bristol, but failed in debt to a number of 
people, compounded and went to America. 
- There, by a close application to business as a 
merchant, he acquir’d a plentiful fortune in a 
few years. Returning to England in the ship 
with me, he invited his old creditors to an en- 
tertainment, at which he thank’d them for the 
easy composition they had favoured him with, 
and, when they expected nothing but the treat, 
every man at the first remove found under his 
plate an order on a banker for the full amount 
of the unpaid remainder with interest. 

He now told me he was about to return to 
Philadelphia, and should carry over a great 
quantity of goods in order to open a store 
there. He propos’d to take me over as his 
clerk, to keep his books, in which he would 
instruct me, copy his letters, and attend the 
store. He added, that; as soon as I should be 
acquainted with mercantile business, he would 
promote me by sending me with a cargo of 
flour and bread, etc., to the West Indies, and 
procure me commissions from others which 
would be prontable; and, if I manag’d well, 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 97 


would establish me handsomely. The thing 
pleas’d me; for I was grown tired of Lon- 
don, remembered with pleasure the happy 
months I had spent in Pennsylvania, and wish’d 
again to see it; therefore I immediately agreed 
on the terms of fifty pounds a year,’ Pennsyl- 
vania money; less, indeed, than my present 
gettings as a compositor, but affording a better 
prospect. 

I now took leave of printing, as I thought, 
forever, and was daily employed in my new 
business, going about with Mr. Denham among 
the tradesmen to purchase various articles, and 
seeing them pack’d up, doing errands, calling 
upon workmen to dispatch, etc.; and, when all 
was on board, I had a few days’ leisure. On 
one of these days, I was, to my surprise, sent 
for by a great man I knew only by name, a 
Sir William Wyndham, and I waited upon 
him. He had heard by some means or other 
of my swimming from Chelsea to Blackfriars, 
and of my teaching Wygate and another young 
man to swim ina few hours. He had two sons, 


about to set out on their travels; he wish’d to 


have them first taught swimming,’ and pro- 

posed to gratify me handsomely if I would 

teach them. They were not yet come to town, 
1 About $167. 


98 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


and my stay was uncertain, so I could not 
undertake it; but, from this incident, I thought 
it likely that, if I were to remain in England 
and open a swimming-school, I might get a 
good deal of money; and it struek. me se 
strongly, that, had the overture been sooner 
made me, probably I should not so soon have 
returned to: America. After many years, you _ 
and I had something of more importance to 
do with one of these sons of Sir William Wynd- 
ham, become Earl of Egremont, which I shall 
mention in its place. | 

Thus I spent about eighteen months in Lon- 
don; most part of the time I work’d hard at 
my business, and spent but little upon myself 
except in seeing plays and in books. . My 
friend Ralph had kept me poor; he owed me 
about twenty-seven pounds, which I was now 
never likely to receive; a great sum out of my 
small earnings! I lov’d him, notwithstanding, 
for he had many amiable qualities. I had by no 
means improv’d my fortune; but I had picked 
up some very ingenious acquaintance, whose 
conversation was of great advantage to me; 
and I had read considerably. 


vil 


BEGINNING BUSINESS IN 
PHILADELPHIA 


AiE sail’d from Gravesend on the 23rd 
4, of July, 1726. For the incidents of 
Vas the voyage, I refer you to my Jour- 

=i nal, where you will find them all 
Be itely related. Perhaps the most important 
part of that journal is the plan‘ to be found 
in it, which I formed at sea, for regulating my 
future conduct in life. It is the more remark- 
able, as being formed when I was so young, 
and yet being pretty faithfully adhered to quite. 
thro’ to old age. 

We landed in Philadelphia on the 11th of 
October, where I found sundry alterations. 
Keith was no longer governor, being super- 
seded by Major Gordon. I met him walking 
the streets as a common citizen. He seem’d 
a little asham’d at seeing me, but pass’d with- 
out saying anything. I should have been as 
much asham’d at seeing Miss Read, had not 


1“Not found in the manuscript journal, which was left among 
Franklin’s papers.’’—Bigelow. 


99 


10 FRANKLIN'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


her friends, despairing with reason of my return 
after the receipt of my letter; perstaded her 
to marry another, one Rogers, a potter, which 
was done in my absence. With him, however, 
she was never happy, and soon parted from 
him, refusing to cohabit with him or bear his 
name, it being now said that he had another 
wife. He was a worthless fellow, tho’ an 
excellent workman, which was the temptation 
to her friends. He got into debt, ran away in 
1727 or 1728, went to the West Indies, and 


died there. Keimer had got a better house, 


a shop well supply’d with stationery, plenty 
of new types, a number of hands, tho’ none 
good, and seem’d to have a great deal of 
business. | 

Mr. Denham took a store in Water-street, 
where we open’d our goods;.I attended the 
business diligently, studied accounts, and grew, 
in a little time, expert at selling. We lodg’d 
and boarded together; he counsell’d me as a 


father, having a sincere regard for mie, 14 
respected and loved him, and we might have © 


gone on together very happy; but, in the be- 
ginning of February, 172%, when I had just 
passd my twenty-first year, we both were 
taken ill. My distemper was a pleurisy, which 
very nearly carried me off. I suffered a good 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY ~ 101 


deal, gave up the point in my own mind, and 
was rather disappointed when I found myself 
recovering, regretting, in some degree, that I 
must now, sc’ne time or other, have all that 
disagreeable \york to do over again. I forget 
what his distemper was; it held him a long 
time, and at length carried him off. He left 


me a small legacy in a .nuncupative will, as 
a token of his kindness for me, and he left 
me once more to the wide world; for the store 
was taken into the care of his executors, and 
my employment under him ended. 

My brother-in-law, Holmes, being now at 
Philadelphia, advised my return to my busi- 
ness; and Keimer tempted me, with an offer 
of large wages by the year, to come and take 
the management of his printing-house, that 
he might better attend his stationer’s shop. 


1022 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


I had heard a bad character of him in Lon- 
don from his wife: and her f1 ends, and was 
not fond of having any more tv do with him. 
I trid for farther employment as. a merchant’s 
clerk; but, not readily meeting wita any, I clos’d 
again with Keimer.. I found in his house these 
hands: Hugh Meredith, a Welsh Pensilvanian, 
thirty years of age, bred to country work; 
honest, sensible, had a great deal of solid 
observation, was something of a reader, but 
given to drink. Stephen Potts, a young coun- 
tryman of full age, bred to the same, of un- 
common natural parts, and great wit and 
humor, but a little idle. These he had agreed 
with at extream low wages per week to be 
rais'd a shilling every three months, .as they 
would deserve by improving in their business; 
and the expectation of these high wages, to 
come on hereafter, was what he had drawn 
them in with. Meredith was to work at press, 
Potts at book-binding, which he, by agreement, 
was to teach them, though he knew neither one 
nor t’other. John , oa -wikd’ “Ipishmen, 
brought up to no business, whose service, for 
four years, Keimer had purchased from the 
captain of a ship; he, too, was to be made a 
pressman. George Webb, an Oxford scholar. 
whose time for four years he had likewise 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 103 


bought, intending him for a compositor, of 
whom more presently; and David Harry, a 
country boy, whom he had taken apprentice. 

I soon perceiv’d that the intention of engag- 
ing me at wages so much higher than he had 
been us’d to give, was, to have these raw, 
cheap hands form’d thro’ me; and, as soon as 
I had instructed them, then they being all 
articled to him, he should be able to do without 
me. I went on, however, very chearfully, put 
his. printing-house in order, which had been 
in great confusion, and brought his hands by 
degrees to mind their business and to do it 
better. 

It was an odd thing to find an Oxford scholar 
in the situation of a bought servant. He was 
not more than eighteen years of age, and gave 
me this account of himself; that he was born 
in Gloucester, educated at a grammar-school 
there, had been distinguish’d among the schol- 
ars for some apparent superiority in perform- 
_ ing his part, when they exhibited plays; belong’d 
to the Witty Club there, and had written some 
pieces in prose and verse, which were printed 
in the Gloucester newspapers; thence he was 
sent to Oxford; where he continued about a 
- year, but not well satisfi’d, wishing of all things 
to see London, and become a player. At 


104 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


length, receiving his quarterly allowance of 
fifteen guineas, instead of discharging his debts 
he walk’d out of town, hid his gown in a furze 
bush, and footed it to London, where, having 
no friend to advise him, he fell into bad com- 
pany, soon spent his guineas, found no means 
of being introduc’d among the players, grew 
necessitous, pawn’d his cloaths,and wanted bread. 
Walking the street very hungry, and not know- 
ing what to do with himself, a crimp’s bill’ 
was put into his hand, offering immediate enter- 
tainment and encouragement to such as would 
bind themselves to serve in America. He went 
directly, sign’d the indentures, was put into 
the ship, and came over, never writing a line 
to acquaint his friends what was become of 
him. He was lively, witty, good-natur’d, and 
a pleasant companion, but idle, thoughtless, 
and imprudent to the last degree. 

John, the Irishman, soon ran away; with 
the. rest I began to live very: agrecabiy, tor 
they all respected me the more, as they found 
Keimer incapable of instructing them, and that 
from me they learned something daily. We 
never worked on Saturday, that being Keimer’s 

1A crimp was the agent of a shipping company. Crimps were 


sometimes employed to decoy men into such service as is here 
mentioned. 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 105 


Sabbath, so I had two days for reading. My 


acquaintance with ingenious people in the town 
increased. Keimer himself treated me with 
great civility and apparent regard, and nothing 
now made me uneasy but my debt to Vernon, 
which I was yet unable to pay, being hitherto 
but a poor economist. He, however, kindly 
made no demand of it. 

Our printing-house often wanted sorts, and 
there was no letter-founder in America; I had 


‘seen types cast at James’s in London, but 


without much attention to the manner; how- 
ever, | now contrived a mould, made use of the 
letters we had as puncheons, struck the mat- 
trices in lead, and thus supply’d in a pretty 
tolerable way all deficiencies. I also engrav’d 
several things on occasion; I made the ink; 
I was warehouseman, and everything, and, in 
short, quite a fac-totum. 

But, however serviceable I might be, I found 
that my services became every day of less 
importance, as the other hands improv’d in 
the business; and, when Keimer paid my sec- 
ond quarter’s wages, he let me know that he 
felt them too heavy, and thought I should 
make an abatement. He grew by degrees less 
civil, put on more of the master, frequently 
found fault, was captious, and seem’d ready 


106 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


for an outbreaking. I went on, nevertheless, 
with a good deal of patience, thinking that 
his encumber’d circumstances were partly the 
cause. At length a trifle snapt our connec- 
tions; for, a great noise happening near the 
court-house, I put my head out of the win- 
dow to see what was the matter. Keimer, 
being in the street, look’d up and saw me, call’d 
out to me in a loud voice and angry tone to 
mind my business, adding some reproachful 
words, that nettled me the more for their pub- 
licity, all the neighbours who were looking 
out on the same occasion being witnesses how 
I was treated. He came up immediately: into 
the printing-house, continu’d the quarrel, high 
words pass’d on both sides, he gave me the 
quarter’s warning we had stipulated, express- 
ing a wish that he had not been oblig’d to 
so long a warning. I told him his wish was 
unnecessary, for I would leave him that instant; 
and so, taking my hat, walk’d out of doors, 
desiring Meredith, whom I saw below, to take 
care of some things I left, and bring them to 
my lodgings. 

Meredith came accordingly in the evening, 
when we talked my affair over. He had con- 
ceivd a great regard for me, and was very 
unwilling that I should leave the house while 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 107 


he remain’d in it. He dissuaded me from 
returning to my native country, which I began 
to think of; he reminded me that Keimer was 
in debt for all he possess’d; that his creditors 
began to be uneasy; that he kept his shop 
miserably, sold often without profit for ready 
money, and often trusted without keeping ac- 
counts; that he must therefore fail, which 
would make a vacancy I might profit of. I 
objected my want of money. He then let mie 
know that his father had a high opinion of 
me, and, from some discourse that had pass’d 
between them, he was sure would advance 
money to set us up, if I would enter into part- 
nership with him. “My time,” says he, “ will 
be out with Keimer in the spring; by that time 
we may have our press and types in from Lon- 
don. I am sensible I am no workman; if you 
like it, your skill in the business shall be set 
against the stock I furnish, and we will share 
the profits equally.” , 

The proposal was agreeable, and I consented; 
his father was in town and approv’d of it; the 
more as he saw I had-great .influence with his 
son, had prevail’d on him to abstain long from 
.dram-drinking, and he hop’d might break him 
of that wretched habit entirely, when we came 
to be so closely connected. I gave an inventory 


108 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


to the father, who carry’d it to a merchant; the 
things were sent for, the secret was to be kept 
till they should arrive, and in the meantime 
I was to get work, if I could, at the other 
printing-house. But I found no vacancy there, 
and so remain’d idle a few days, when Keimer, 
on a prospect of being employ’d to print some 
paper money in New Jersey, which would re- 
quire cuts and various types that I only could 
supply, and apprehending Bradford might en- 
gage me and get the jobb from him, sent me 
a very civil message, that old friends should 
not part for a few words, the effect of sud- 
den passion, and wishing me to return. Mere- 
dith persuaded me to comply, as it would give 
more opportunity for his improvement under 
my daily instructions; so I return’d, and we 
went on more smoothly than for some time 
before. The New Jersey jobb was obtained, 
I contriv’d a copperplate press for it, the first 
that had been seen in the country; I cut sev- 
eral ornaments and checks for the bills. We 
went together to Burlington, where I executed 
the whole to satisfaction; and he received so 
large a sum for the work as to be enabled 
thereby to keep his head much longer above 
water. : 

At Burlington I made an acquaintance with 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


many principal people of the province. Sev- 
eral of them had been appointed by the Assem- 
bly a committee to attend the press, and take 
care that no more bills were printed than the 
law directed. They were therefore, by turns, 
constantly with us, and generally he who 
attended, brought with him a friend or two 
for company. My mind having been much 
more improv’d by reading than Keimer’s, [I 
suppose it was for that reason my conversa- 
tion seem’d to be more valu’d. They had me 
to their houses, introduced me to their friends, 
and show’d me much civility; while he, tho’ 
the master, was a little neglected. In truth, 
he was an odd fish; ignorant of common life, 
fond of rudely opposing receiv’d opinions, 
slovenly to extream dirtiness, enthusiastic in 
some points of religion, and a little knavish 
withal. 

We continu’d there near three months; and 
by that time I could reckon among my acquired 
friends, Judge Allen, Samuel Bustill, the sec- 
retary of the Province, Isaac Pearson, Joseph 
Cooper, and several of the Smiths, members 
of Assembly, and Isaac Decow, the surveyor- 
general. The latter was a shrewd, sagacious 
old man, who told) me that he began for him- 
self, when young, by wheeling clay for brick- 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


makers, learned to write after he ‘was of age, 
carri’d the chain for surveyors, who taught him 
surveying, and he had now by his industry, 
acquir’d a good estate; and says he, “I fore- 
see that you will soon work this man out of 
his business, and make a fortune in it at Phila- 
delphia.”” He had not then the least intima- 
tion of my intention to set up there or any- 
where. These friends were afterwards of great 
use to me, as I occasionally was to some of 
them. They all continued their regard for me 
as long as they lived. 

Before I enter upon my public appearance 
in business, it may be well to let you know 
the then state of my mind with regard to my 
principles and morals, that you may see how 
far those influenc’d the future events of my 
jlife. My parents had early given me religious 
‘ impressions, and brought me through my child- 
hood piously in the Dissenting way. But I 
was scarce fifteen, when, after doubting by 
turns of several points, as I found them dis- 
puted in the different books I read, I began 
to doubt of Revelation itself. Some books 
against Deistn* fell into my hands; they were 
1The creed of an eighteenth century theological sect which, 


while believing in God, refused to credit the possibility of miracles 
and to acknowledge the validity of revelation. 


g 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 111 


said to be the substance of sermons preached 
av Doyle's: Lectures.) It happened : that’ they 
wrought an effect on me quite contrary to 
what was intended by them; for the argu- 
ments of the Deists, which were quoted to be 
refuted, appeared to me much stronger than 
the refutations; in short, I. soon became a 
thorough Deist. My arguments perverted some 
others, particularly Collins and Ralph; but, each 
of them having afterwards wrong’d me greatly 
without the least compunction, and recollect- 
ing Keith’s conduct towards me (who was 
another free-thinker), and my own towards 
Vernon and Miss Read, which at times gave 
me great trouble, I began to suspect that this 
doctrine, tho’ it might be true, was not very 
useful. My London pamphlet, which had for 
its motto these lines of Dryden:? 


“Whatever is, is right. Though purblind man 
Sees but a part o’ the chain, the nearest link: 
His eyes not carrying to the equal beam, ° 
That poises all above;”’ 


and from the attributes of God, his infinite 
wisdom, goodness and power, concluded that 
nothing could possibly be wrong in the world, © 


jand that vice and virtue were empty distinc- 


1A great English poet, dramatist, and critic (1631-1700). 
The lines are inaccurately quoted from Dryden’s Gdipus, Act 
III, Scene I, line 293. 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


112 


tions, no such things existing, appear'd now 
not so clever a performance as | once thought © 
it; and I doubted whether some error had not 
insinuated itself unperceiv’d into my argument, 
so as to infect all that follow’d, as is common 
in metaphysical reasonings. 

I grew convine’d that truth, sincerity and in- 
tegrity in dealings between man and man were 
of the utmost importance to the felicity. of life; 
and I form’d written resolutions, which still re- 
main in my journal book, to practice them ever 
while I lived. Revelation had indeed no weight 
with me, as such; but I entertain’d an opinion - 
that, though certain actions might not be bad 
because they were forbidden by it, or good 
because it commanded them, yet probably these 
actions might be forbidden because they were 
bad for us, or commanded because they were 
beneficial to us, in their own natures, all the — 
circumstances of things considered. And this 
persuasion, with the kind hand of Providence, — 
or some guardian angel, or accidental favour- | 
able circumstances and situations, or all to- 
gether, preserved me, thro’ this dangerous time — 
of youth, and the hazardous situations I was 
sometimes in among strangers, remote from — 
the eye and advice of my father, without any — 
willful gross immorality or injustice, that might — 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


have been expected from my want of religit 
I say willful, because the instances I have men‘ 
tioned had something of necessity in them, from 
my youth, inexperience, and the knavery of 
others. I had therefore a tolerable character 
to begin the world with; I valued it properly, 
and determin’d to preserve it. 

We had not been long return’d to Philadelphia 
before the new types arriv’d from London. We 
settled with Keimer, and left him by his con- 
sent before he heard of it. We found a house 
to hire near the market, and took it. To lessen 
the rent, which was then but twenty-four 
pounds a year, tho’ I have since known it to 
let for seventy, we took in Thomas Godfrey, 
a glazier, and his family, who were to pay a 
considerable part of it to us, and we to board 
with them. We had scarce opened our letters 
and put our press in order, before George 
House, an acquaintance of mine, brought a coun- 
tryman to us, whom he had met in the street 
inquiring for a printer. All our cash was now 
expended in the variety of particulars we had 
been obliged to procure, and this countryman’s 
five shillings, being our first-fruits, and coming | 
so seasonably, gave me more pleasure than any 
crown I have since earned; and the gratitude 
I felt toward House has made me often more 


RANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


ady than perhaps I should otherwise have 
een to assist young beginners. 

There are croakers in every country, always 
boding its ruin. Such a one then lived in Phila- 
delphia; a person of note, an elderly man, 
with a wise look and a very grave manner 
of speaking; his name was Samuel Mickle. 
This gentleman, a stranger to me, stopt one 
day at my door, and asked me if I was the 
young man who had lately opened a new print- 
ing-house. Being answered in the affirmative, he 
said he was sorry for me, because it was an 
expensive undertaking, and the expense would 
be lost; for Philadelphia was a sinking place, 
the people already half-bankrupts, or near being 
so; all appearances to the contrary, such as 
new buildings and the rise of rents, being to 
his certain knowledge fallacious; for they were, 
in‘fact, among the things that would soon ruin 
us. And he gave me such a detail of misfor- 
tunes now existing, or that were soon to exist, 
that he left me half melancholy. Had I known 
him before I engaged in this business, prob- 
ably I never should have done it. This man 
continued to live in this decaying place, and 
to declaim in the same strain, refusing for 
many years to buy a house there, because all 
was going to destruction; and at last I had 


FRANKLI 


the pleasure of seeing him give | 
much for one as he might have boughitvit 
when he first began his croaking. > wha 
I should have mentioned before, that, in the pei ee 
autumn of the preceding year, I had form’d o%§ 
most of my ingenious acquaintance into a club 
of mutual improvement, which was called the 
JONTO:* we met’ on /riday evenings. ‘The 
rules that I drew up required that every mem- 
ber, in his turn, should produce one or more 
queries on any point of Morals, Politics, or 
Natural Philosophy, to be discuss’d by the 
company; and once in three months produce 
and read an essay of his own writing, on any 
subject he pleased. Our debates were to be 
under the direction of a president, and to be 
conducted in the sincere spirit of inquiry after 
truth, without fondness for dispute, or desire 
of victory; and, to prevent warmth, all expres- 
sions of positiveness in opinions, or direct con- 
tradiction, were after some time made contra- 
band, and prohibited under small pecuniary 
penalties. 
The first members were Joseph Breintnal, a 
copyer of deeds for the scriveners, a good- 
natur’d, friendly middle-ag’d man, a great lover 


1A Spanish term meaning a combination for political intrigue; 
here a club or society. 


: mug ail he could meet with, and ~ 
. Pring some that was tolerable; very ingenious 
in many little Nicknackeries, and of sensible 
conversation. 

Thomas Godfrey, a self-taught mathemati- 
cian, great in his way, and afterward inventor 
of what is now called Hadley’s Quadrant. But 
he knew little out of his way, and was not a 
pleasing companion; as, like most great mathe- 
maticians I have met with, he expected uni- 
versal precision in everything said, or was for- 
ever denying or distinguishing upon trifles, to 
the disturbance of all conversation. He soon 
left us. 

Nicholas Scull, a surveyor, afterwards sur- 
veyor-general, who lov’d books, and sometimes 
made a few verses. 

William Parsons, bred a shoemaker, but, 
loving reading, had acquir’d a considerable share 
of mathematics, which he first studied with a 
view to astrology, that he afterwards laught 
at it. He also became surveyor-general. 3 

William Maugridge, a joiner, a most 
exquisite mechanic, and a_ solid, sensible 
man. 

Hugh Meredith, Stephen Potts, and George 
Webb I have characteriz’d before. © 

Robert Grace, a young gentleman of some 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 117 


fortune, generous, lively, and witty; a lover of 
punning and of his friends. 

And William Coleman, then a merchant’s 
~ clerk, about my age, who had the coolest, clear- 
est head, the best heart, and the exactest. morals 
of almost any man I ever met with. He be- 
came afterwards a merchant of great note, and 
one of our provincial judges. Our friendship 
continued without interruption to his death, 
upwards of forty years; and the club continued 
almost as long, and was the best school of 
philosophy, morality, and politics that then 
existed in the province; for our queries, which 
were read the week preceding their discus- 
sion, put us upon reading with attention upon 
the several subjects, that we might speak more 
to the purpose; and here, too, we acquired 
better habits of conversation, everything being 
studied in our rules which might prevent our 
disgusting each other. From hence the long 
continuance of the club, which I shall have 
frequent occasion to. speak further of here- 
after. 

But my giving this account of it here is to 
show something of the interest I had, every- 
one of these exerting themselves in recom- 
mending business to us. Breintnal particu- 
larly procur’d us from the Quakers the print- 


118 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBLOGRAPHY 


ing forty sheets of their history, the rest being 
to be done by Keimer; and upon this we work’d 
exceedingly hard, for the price was low. It 
was a folio, pro patria size, in pica, with long 
primer notes.’ 1] compos’d of 1t a sheet a day: 


and Meredith worked it off at press; it was 


often eleven at night, and sometimes later, 
before I had finished my distribution for the 
next day’s work, for the little jobbs sent in by 
our other friends now and then put us back. 
But so determin’d I was to continue doing a 
sheet a day of the folio, that one night, when, 
having impos’d* my forms, I thought my day’s 
work over, one of them by accident was broken, 
and two pages reduced to pi,’ I immediately 
distribut’d and composed it over again before 
I went to bed; and this industry, visible to our 
neighbors, began to give us character and 


credit; particularly, I was told, that mention — 


being made of the new printing-office at the 
merchants’ Every-night club, the general 
Opinion was that it must fail, there being 
already two printers in the place, Keimer and 


1A sheet 8% by 13% inches, having the words pro patria in 
translucent letters in the body of the paper. Pica—a size of type; as, 
ABCD: Long Primer—a smaller size of type; as, ABCD. 

2To arrange and lock up pages or columns of type in a rec- 
tangular iron frame, ready for printing. 

3 Reduced to complete disorder. 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY i119 


Bradford; but Dr. Baird (whom you and I saw 
many years after at his native place, St. An- 
drew’s in Scotland) gave a contrary opinion: 
“For the industry of that Franklin,” says he, 
“is superior to anything I ever saw of the 
kind; I see him still at work when I go home 
from club, and he is at work again before his 
neighbors are out of bed.” This struck the 
rest, and we soon after had offers from one 
of them to supply us with stationery; but as 
yet we did not chuse to engage in shop busi- 
ness. 

I mention this industry the more particularly 
and the more freely, tho’ it seems to be talk- 
ing in my own praise, that those of my pos- 
terity, who shall read it, may know the use of 
that virtue, when they see its effects in my 
favour throughout this relation. 

George Webb, who had found a female friend 
that lent him wherewith to purchase his time 
of Keimer, now came to offer himself as a jour- 
neyman to us. We could not then imploy him; 
but I foolishly let him know as a secret that I 
soon intended to begin a newspaper, and might 
then have work for him. My hopes of success, 
as I told him, were founded on this, that the 
then only newspaper, printed by Bradford, was 
a paltry thing, wretchedly manag’d, no way: ~ 


100 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


entertaining, and yet was profitable to him; I 
therefore thought a good paper would scarcely 
fail of good encouragement. I requested Webb 
not to mention it; but he told it to Keimer, 
who immediately, to be beforehand with me, 
published proposals for printing one himself, 
on which Webb was to be employ’d. I re- 
sented this; and, to counteract them, as I 
could not yet begin our paper, I wrote several 
pieces of entertainment for Bradford’s paper, 
under the title of the BUSY BoDY, which Breint- 
nal continu’d some months. By this means 
the attention of the publick was fixed on that 
paper, and Keimer’s proposals, which we bur- 
lesqu’d and ridicul’d, were disregarded. He 
began his paper, however, and, after carrying 
it on three quarters of a year, with at most 
only ninety subscribers, he offered it to me 
for a trifle; and I, having been ready some 
time to go on with it, took it in hand directly; 
and it prov’d in a few years extremely profit- 
able to me. PG. 

I perceive that I am apt to speak in the 
singular number, though our partnership still 
continu’d; the reason may be that, in fact, the 
whole management of the business lay upon 
me. Meredith was no compositor, a poor press- 
man, and seldom sober. My friends lamented 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 121 


my connection with him, but I was to make 
the best of it. 

Our first papers made a quite different ap- 
pearance from any before in the province; a 
better type, and better printed; but some 
spirited remarks of my writing, on the dis- 
pute then going on between Governor Burnet 
and the Massachusets Assembly, struck the 
principal people, occasioned the paper and the 
manager of it to be much talk’d of, and in 
a few weeks brought them all to be our sub- 
_scribers. | 

Their example was follow’d by many, and 
our number went on growing continually. This 
was one of the first. good effects of my having 
learnt a little to scribble; another was, that the 
leading men, seeing a newspaper now in the 
hands of one who could also handle a pen, 
thought it convenient to oblige and encourage 
me. Bradford still printed the votes, and laws, 
and other publick business. He had printed an 
address of the House to the governor, in a 
coarse, blundering manner; we reprinted it 
elegantly and correctly, and sent one to every 
member. They were sensible of the differ- 
ence: it strengthened the hands of our friends 
in the House, and they voted us their printers 
for the year ensuing. 


122 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


Among my friends in the House I must not 
forget Mr. Hamilton, before mentioned, who 
was then returned from England, and had a seat 
in it. He interested himself for me strongly 
in that instance, as he did in many others 
afterward, continuing his patronage till his 
death." : 

Mr. Vernon, about this time, put me in 
mind of the debt I ow’d him, but did not 
press me. I wrote him an ingenuous letter 
of acknowledgment, crav’'d his forbearance a 
little longer, which he allow’d me, and as soon 
as I was able, I paid the principal with interest, 
and many thanks; so that erratum was in some 
degree corrected. | 

But now another difficulty came upon me 
which I had never the least. reason to expect. 
Mr. Meredith’s father, who was to have paid 
for our printing-house, according to the ex- 
pectations given me, was able to advance only 
one hundred pounds currency, which had been 
paid; and a hundred more was due to the mer- 
chant, who grew impatient, and sud us all. 
We gave bail, but saw that, if the money 
- could not be rais’d in time, the suit must soon 
come to a judgment and execution, and our 
hopeful prospects must, with us, be ruined, as 

1T got his son once £500.—Marg. note. 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 123 


the press and letters must be sold for pay- 
ment, perhaps at half price. 

In this distress two true friends, whose kind- 
ness I have never forgotten, nor ever shall 
forget while I can remember any thing, came 
to me separately, unknown to each other, and, 
without any application from me, offering each 
of them to advance me all the money that 
should be necessary to enable me to take the 
whole business upon myself, if that should be 
practicable; but they did not like my con- 
tinuing the partnership with Meredith, who, 
as they said, was often seen drunk in the 
streets, and playing at low games in alehouses, 
much to our discredit. These two friends were 
William Coleman and Robert Grace. I told 
them I could not propose a separation while 
any prospect remain’d of the Meredith’s ful- 
filling their part of our agreement, because I 
thought myself under great obligations to them 
for what they had done, and would do if they 
could; but, if they finally fail’d in their per- 
formance, and our partnership must be dis- 
solv’d, I should then think myself at liberty 
to accept the assistance of my friends. 

Thus the matter rested for some time, when 
IT said to my partner, “ Perhaps your father 
is dissatisfied at the part you have undertaken 


1244 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


in this affair of ours, and is unwilling to ad- 
vance for you and me what he would for you 
alone. If that is the case, tell me, and I will 
resign the whole to you, and go about my busi- 
ness.” “No,” said he, “my father has really 
been disappointed, and is really unable; and 
I am unwilling to distress him farther. I see 
this is a business I am not fit for. I was bred © 
a farmer, and it was a folly in me to come to 
town, and put myself, at thirty years of age, 
an apprentice to learn a new trade. Many of 
our Welsh people are going to settle in North 
Carolina, where land is cheap. I am inclin’d 
to go with them, and follow my old employ- 
ment. You may find friends to assist you. 
If you will take the debts of the company upon 
you; return to my father the hundred pounds 
he has advanced; pay my little personal debts, 
and give me thirty pounds and a new saddle, 
I will relinquish the partnership, and leave 
the whole in your hands.” I agreed to this 
proposal: it was drawn up in writing, sign’d, 
and seal’d immediately. I gave him what he 
demanded, and he went soon after to Caro- 
lina, from whence he sent me next year two 
long letters, containing the best account that 
had been given of.that country, the climate, 
the soil, husbandry, etc., for in those matters 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY § 125 


he was very judicious. I printed them in the 
papers, and they gave great satisfaction to the 
publick. 

As soon as he was gone, I recurr’d to my 
two friends; and because I would not give an 
unkind preference to either, I took half of what 
each had offered and I wanted of one, and 
half of the other; paid off the company’s debts, 
and went on with the business in my own 
name, advertising that the partnership was 
dissolved. I think this was in or about the 


year 1720. 


VIVT 


shed et gh SUCCCESS AND FIRST 
PUBLIC SERVICE 


Bad Weg) BOUT this time there was a cry 
among the people for more paper 


that soon to be sunk.* The wealthy inhabi- 
tants oppos’d any addition, being against all 
paper currency, from an apprehension that it 
would depreciate, as it had done in New Eng- 
land, to. the prejudice of all creditors. We 
had discuss’d this point in our Junto, where 
I was on the side of an addition, being per- 
suaded that the first small sum struck in 1723 
had done much good by increasing the trade, 
employment, and number of inhabitants in the 
province, since I now saw all the old houses 
inhabited, and many new _ ones building: 
whereas I remembered well, that when I first 
walk’d about the streets of Philadelphia, eat- 
ing my roll, I saw most of the houses in Wal- 
nut Street, between Second and Front streets,’ 


1 Recalled to be redeemed. 
2This part of Philadelphia is now the center of the wholesale ° 

business district. 
126 


VRAIN OUNS AU COB IOGRAP EY) 1a7 


with bills on their doors, “To be let”; and 
many likewise in Chestnut-street and other 
streets, which made me then think the in- 
habitants of the city were deserting it one 
after another. | 

Our debates possess’d me so fully of the 
subject, that I wrote and printed an anonymous 
pamphlet on it, entitled “The Nature and 
Necessity of a Paper Currency.” It was well 
receiv d by the common people in general; but 
the rich men dislik’d it, for it increas’d and 
strengthen’d the clamor for more money, and 
they happening to have no writers among them 
that were able to answer it, their opposition 
slacken’d, and the point was carried by a ma- 
jority in the House. My friends there, who 
—conceiv’d I had been of some service, thought 
fit to reward me by employing me in printing 
the money; a very profitable jobb and a great 
help to me. This was another advantage gain’d 
by my being able to write. 

The utility of this currency became by time 
and experience so evident as never afterwards 
to be much disputed; so that it grew soon to 
fifty-five thousand pounds, and in 1739 to eighty 
thousand pounds, since which it arose during 
war to upwards of three hundred and fifty 
thousand pounds, trade, building, and inhabi- 


128 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


tants all the while increasing, tho’ I now think 
there are limits beyond which the quantity 
may be hurtful.’ 

I soon after obtain’d, thro’ my friend Ham- 
ilton, the printing of the Newcastle paper 
money, another profitable. jobb as I then 
thought it; small things appearing great to 
those in small circumstances; and these, to me, 
were really great advantages, as they were 
great encouragements. He procured for me, 
also, the printing of the laws and votes of that 
government, which continu’d in my hands as 
long as I follow’d the business. 

I now open’d a little stationer’s shop. I 
had in it blanks of all sorts, the correctest that 
ever appear’d among us, being assisted in that 
by my friend Breintnal. JI had also paper, 
parchment, chapmen’s books, etc. One White- 
mash, a compositor I had known in London, 
an excellent workman, now came to me, and 
work’d with me constantly and diligently; and 
I took an apprentice, the son of Aquilla Rose. 

I began now gradually to pay off the debt 


. 1 Paper money is a promise to pay its face value in gold or | 
silver. When a state or nation issues more such promises than 
there is a likelihood of its being able to redeem, the paper repre- 
\ senting the promises depreciates in value. Before the success of 
the Colonies in the Revolution was assured, it took hundreds of ~ 


-\ dollars of their paper money to buy a pair of boots. 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 129 


I was under for the printing-house. In order 
to secure my credit and character as a trades- 
man, I took care not only to be in reality 
industrious and frugal, but to avoid all appear- 
ances to the contrary. I drest plainly; I was 
seen at no places of idle diversion. I never 
went out a fishing or shooting; a book, indeed, 


sometimes debauch’d me from my work, but 
that was seldom, snug, and gave no scandal; 
and, to show that I was not above my busi- 
ness, I sometimes brought home the paper I 
purchas’d at the stores thro’ the streets on 
a wheelbarrow. Thus being esteem’d an indus- 
trious, thriving young man, and paying duly 
for what I bought, the merchants who im- 
ported stationery solicited my custom; others 
proposed supplying me with books, and I went 
on swimminegly. In the meantime, Keimer’s 
‘ credit and business declining daily, he was at 


1330 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


last force’d to sell his printing-house to satisfy 
his creditors. He went to Barbadoes, and 
there lived some years in very poor circum- 
stances. 

His apprentice, David Harry, whom I had 
instructed while I work’d with him, set up in 
his place at Philadelphia, having bought his 
materials. I was at first apprehensive of a 
powerful rival in Harry, as his friends were 
very able, and had a good deal of interest. I 
therefore propos’d a partnership to him, which 
he, fortunately for me, rejected with scorn. 
He was very proud, dress’d like a gentleman, 
liv’d expensively, took much diversion and 
pleasure abroad, ran in debt, and neglected 
his business; upon which, all business left him; 
and, finding nothing to do, he followed Keimer | 
to Barbadoes, taking the printing-house with 
him. There this apprentice employ’d his former 
master as a journeyman; they quarrell’d often; 
Harry went continually behindhand, and at 
length was forc’d to sell his types and return 
to his country work in Pensilvania. The per- 
son that bought them employ’d Keimer to 
use them, but in a few years he died. 

There remained now no competitor with me 
at Philadelphia but the old one, Bradford; who 
was rich and easy, did a little printing now and ~ 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAP 


then by straggling hands, but was not 
anxious about the business. However, as 
kept the post-office, it was imagined he had bet- 
ter opportunities of obtaining news; his paper 
was thought a better distributer of advertise- 
ments than mine, and therefore had many more, 
which was a profitable thing to him, and a 
disadvantage to me; for, tho’ I did indeed re- 
ceive and send papers by the post, yet the 
publick opinion was otherwise, for what I did 
send was by bribing the riders, who took them _ 
privately, Bradford being unkind enough to 
forbid it, which occasion’d some resentment 
on my part; and I thought so meanly of him 
for it, that, when I afterward came into his 
situation, I took care never to imitate it. 

I had hitherto continu’d to board with God- 
frey, who lived in part of my house with his 
wife and children, and had one side of the shop 
for his glazier’s business, tho’ he worked little, 
being always absorbed in his mathematics. 
Mrs. Godfrey projected a match for me with 
a relation’s daughter, took opportunities of 
bringing us often together, till a serious court- 
ship on my part ensu’d, the girl being in her- 
self very deserving. The old folks encourag’d 
me by continual invitations to supper, and by 
leaving us together, till at length it was time 


& , 


NKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 


plain. Mrs. Godfrey manag’d our little 
aty. I let her know that | expected as 
much money with their daughter as would pay — 
off my remaining debt for the printing-house, _ 
which I believe was not then above a hundred 
pounds. She brought me word they had no 
such sum to spare; I said they might mort- 
gage their house in the loan-office. The answer 
to this, after some days, was, that they did 
not approve the match; that, on inquiry of 
Bradford, they had been informed the print= 
ing business was not a profitable one; the types 
would soon be worn out, and more wanted; 
that S. Keimer and D. Harry had failed one 
after the other, and I should probably soon 
follow them; and, therefore, I was forbidden 
the house, and the daughter shut up. 
Whether this was a real change of senti- 
ment or only artifice, on a supposition of our 
being too far engaged in affection to retract, 
and therefore that we should steal a mar- 
riage, which would leave them at liberty to 
give or withhold what they pleas’d, I know 
not; but I suspected the latter, resented it, and 
went no more. Mrs. Godfrey brought me 
afterward some more favorable accounts of 
their disposition, and would have drawn me 
on again; but I declared absolutely my reso- 


\ FRANKLIN'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY. (333 


lution to have nothing more to do with that 
family. This was resented by the Godfreys; 
we differ’d, and they removed, leaving me the 
whole house, and I resolved to take no more 
inmates. 

But this affair having turned my thoughts 
to marriage, I look’d round me and made 
overtures of acquaintance in other places; but 
soon found that, the business of a printer be- 
ing generally thought a poor one, I was not 
to expect money with a wife, unless with such 
a one as I should not otherwise think agree- 
able. A friendly correspondence as neighbours 
and old acquaintances had continued between 
me and Mrs. Read’s family, who all had a regard 
for me from the time of my first lodging in 
their house. I was often invited there and 
consulted in their affairs, wherein I sometimes 
was of service. I piti’d poor Miss Read’s un- 
fortunate situation, who was generally dejected, 
seldom chearful, and avoided company. [I con- 
sidered my giddiness and inconstancy when in 
London as in a great degree the cause of her 
unhappiness, tho’ the mother was good enough 
to think the fault more her own than mine, as 
she had prevented our marrying before I went 
thither,.and persuaded the other match in my 
absence. Our mutual affection was revived, 


1334 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


but there were now great objections to our 
union. The match was indeed looked upon 
as invalid, a preceding wife being said to be 
living in England; but this could not easily 
be provd, because of the -distance; and, tho 
there was a report of his death, it was not 
certain. ‘Then, tho’ it should be true, he had 
left many debts, which his successor might be 
call’d upon to pay. We ventured, however, 
over all these difficulties, and I” took her to 
wife, September 1st, 1730. None of the incon- 
veniences happened that we had apprehended; 
she proved a good and faithful helpmate,* 
assisted me much by attending the shop; we 
throve together, and have ever mutually en- 
deavour’d to make each other happy. Thus 
I corrected that great erratum as well as I 
could. 

About this time, our club meeting, not at a 
tavern, but in a little room of Mr. Grace’s, set 
apart for that purpose, a proposition was made 


1Mrs. Franklin survived her marriage over forty years. Frank- 
lin’s correspondence abounds with evidence that their union was a - 
happy one. “We are grown old together, and if she has any 
faults, I am so used to them that I don’t perceive them.” The 
following is a stanza from one of Franklin’s own songs written 
for the Junto: 
_“QOf their Chloes and Phyllises poets may prate, 
I sing my plain country Joan, 
These twelve years my wife, still the joy of my life, 
Blest day that I made her my own.” 


\ 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY | 135 


by me, that, since our books were often re- 
ferr’d to in our disquisitions upon the queries, it 
might be convenient to us to have them alto- 
gether where we met, that upon occasion they 
might be consulted; and by thus clubbing our 
books to a common library, we should, while 
we lik’d to keep them together, have each of 
us the advantage of using the books of all 
the other members, which would be nearly as 
beneficial as if each owned the whole. It was 
lik’d and agreed to, and we fill’d one end of 
the room with such books as we could best 
spare. The number was not so great as we 
expected; and tho’ they had been of great use, 
yet some inconveniences occurring for want of 
due care of them, the collection, after about a 
year, was. separated, and each took his books 
home again. 

And now I set on foot my first project of 
a public nature, that for a subscription library. 
I drew up the proposals, got them put into form 
by our great scrivener, Brockden, and, by the 
help of my friends in the Junto, procured fifty 
subscribers of forty shillings each to begin 
with, and ten shillings a year for fifty years, 
the term our company was to continue. We 
afterwards obtain’d a charter, the company 
being increased to one hundred: this was the 


1336 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


mother of all the North American subscription 
libraries, now so numerous. It is become a 
great thing itself, and continually increasing. 
These libraries have improved the general con- 
versation of the Americans, made the com- 
mon tradesmen and farmers as intelligent as 
‘most gentlemen from other countries, and per- 
haps have contributed in some degree to the 
stand so generally made throughout the col- 
onies in defense of their privileges.’ 

Mem°. Thus far was written with the inten- 
tion express’d in the beginning and therefore 
contains several little family anecdotes of no 
importance to others. What follows was writ- 
ten many years after in compliance with the 
advice contain’d in these letters, and accord- 
ingly intended for the public. The affairs 
of the Revolution occasion’d the interruption.* 


[Continuation of the Account of my Life, begun 
at Passy, near Paris, 1784.] 


It is some time since I receiv’d the above 
letters, but I have been too busy till now to 


1 Here the first part of the Autobiography, written at Twyford 
in 1771, ends. The second part, which follows, was written at 
Passy in 1784. | 
_ 2 After this memorandum, Franklin inserted letters from Abel 
James and Benjamin Vaughan, urging him to continue his Autos 
biography. 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY _ 137 


think of complying with the request they con- 
tain. It might, too, be much better done if 
I were at home among my papers, which would 
aid my memory, and help to ascertain dates; 
but my return being uncertain, and having 
just now a little leisure, 1 will endeavour to 
recollect and write what I can; if I live to 
get home, it may there be corrected and im- 
_ proved. 

Not having any copy here of what is already 
written, I know not whether an account is 
given of the means I used to establish the 
Philadelphia public library, which, from a small 
beginning, is now become so _ considerable, 
though I remember to have come down to 
near the time of that transaction (1730). I 
will therefore begin here with an account of 
it, which may be struck out if found to have 
been already given. | 

At the time I establish’d myself in Pennsyl- 
vania, there was not a good bookseller’s shop 
in any of the colonies to the southward of 
Boston. In New York and Philad’a the printers 
were indeed stationers; they sold only paper, 
etc., almanacs, ballads, and a few common 
-school-books. Those who lov’d reading were 
oblig’d to send for their books from England; 
the members of the Junto had each a few. We 


138 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


had left the alehouse, where we first met, and 
hired a room to hold our club in. I propos’d 
that we should all of us bring our books to 
that’ room, where they would not only be ready 
to consult in our conferences, but become a 


id 


common benefit, each of us being at liberty | 


to borrow such as he wish’d to read at home. 


This was accordingly done, and for some time 


contented us. 

Finding the advantage of this little cones 
tion, I propos’d to render the benefit from 
books more common, by commencing a public 
subscription library. I drew a sketch of the 
plan and rules that would be necessary, and 
got a skilful conveyancer, Mr. Charles Brock- 
den, to put the whole in form of articles of 
agreement to be subscribed, by which each sub- 
scriber engag’d to pay a certain sum down 
for the first purchase of books, and an annual 
contribution for increasing them. So few were 
the readers at that time in Philadelphia, and 
the majority of us so poor, that I was not 
able, with great industry, to find more than 
fifty persons, mostly young tradesmen, willing 
to pay down for this purpose forty shillings 
each, and ten shillings per annum. On this 
little fund we began. The books were imported; 
the library was opened one day in the week 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY _ 139 


for lending to the subscribers, on their prom- 
issory notes to pay double the value if not duly 
returned. The institution soon manifested its 
utility, was imitated by other towns, and in 
other provinces. The libraries were augmented 
by donations; reading became fashionable; and 
our people, having no publick amusements to 
divert their attention from study, became bet- 
ter acquainted with books, and in a few years 
were observd by strangers to be better 
instructed and more intelligent than people of 
the same rank generally are in other countries. 

When we were about to sign the above- 
mentioned articles, which were to be binding 
on us, our heirs, etc., for fifty years, Mr. Brock- 
den, the scrivener, said to us, “ You are young 
men, but it is scarcely probable that any of 
you will live to see the expiration of the term 
fix’d in the instrument.” A number of us, 
however, are yet living; but the instrument was 
after a few years rendered null by a charter 
that incorporated and gave perpetuity to the 
company. 

The objections and reluctances I met with 
in soltciting the subscriptions, made me soon 
feel the impropriety of presenting one’s self 
as the proposer of any useful project, that 
might be suppos’d to raise one’s reputation 


140 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


in the smallest degree above that of one’s 
neighbours, when one has need of their assist- 
ance to accomplish that project. I therefore 
put myself as much as I could out of sight, 
and stated it as a scheme of a number of friends, 
who had requested me to go about and pro- 
pose it to such as they thought lovers of read- 
ing. In this way my affair went on more 
smoothly, and I ever after practis’d it on such 
occasions; and, from my frequent successes, 
can heartily recommend it. The present little 
sacrifice of your vanity will afterwards be 
amply repaid. If it remains a while uncertain 
to whom the merit belongs, someone more vain 
than yourself will be encouraged to claim it, 
and then even envy will be disposed to do you 
justice by plucking those assumed feathers, 
and restoring them to their right owner. 
This library afforded me the means of im- 
provement by constant study, for which I set 
apart an hour or two each day, and thus re- 
pair’d in some degree the loss of the learned 
education my father once intended for me. 
Reading was the only amusement I allowd 
myself. I spent no time in taverns, “games, 
or frolicks of any kind; and my industry in — 
my business continu’d as indefatigable as it 
was necessary. I was indebted for my print- 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 11 


ing-house; I had a young family coming on 
to be educated, and I had to contend with for 
business two printers, who were established 
in the place before me. My circumstances, 
however, grew daily easier. My original habits 
of frugality continuing, and my father having, 
among his instructions to me when a boy, 
frequently ~repeated a proverb of Solomon, 
“Seest thou a man diligent in his calling, he 
shall stand before kings, he shall not stand 
before mean men,’ I from thence considered 
industry as a means of obtaining wealth and 
distinction, which encourag’d me, tho’ I did 
not think that I should ever literally stand 
before kings, which, however, has since hap- 
pened; for I have stood before five, and even 
had the honor of sitting down with one, the 
King of Denmark, to dinner. 

We have an English proverb that says, “ He 
that would thrive, must ask his wife.” It was 
lucky for me that I had one as much dispos’d 
to industry and frugality ‘as myself. She 
assisted me chearfully in my business, folding 
and stitching pamphlets, tending shop, pur- 

chasing old linen rags for the paper-makers, 
etc, etc. We kept no idle servants, our table 
was plain and simple, our furniture of the 
cheapest. For instance, my breakfast was a 


j 


1442 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


long time break and milk (no tea), and I 
ate it out of a twopenny earthen porringer, 
with a pewter spoon. But mark how luxury 
will enter families, and make a progress, in spite 
of principle: being call’d one morning to break- 
fast, I found it in a China bowl, with a spoon 
of silver! They had been bought for me with- 
out my knowledge by my wife, and had cost 
her the enormous sum of. three-and-twenty 
shillings, for which she had no other excuse or 
apology to make, but that she thought her 
husband deserv’d a silver spoon and China bowl 
as well as any of his neighbors. This was the © 
first appearance of plate and China in our 
house, which afterward, in a course of years, 
as our wealth increas’d, augmented ae 
to several hundred pounds in value. 

I had been religiously educated as a Presby- 
terian; and though some of the dogmas of that 
persuasion, such as the eternal decrees of God, 
election, reprobation, etc., appeared to me un- 
intelligible, others doubtful, and I early ab- 
sented myself from the public assemblies of 
the sect, Sunday being my studying day, I 
never was without some religious principles. 
I never doubted, for instance, the existence 
of the Deity; that he made the world, and 
govern'd it by his Providence; that the most 


= 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 143 


acceptable service of God was the doing good 
to man; that our souls are immortal; and that 
all crime will be punished, and virtue rewarded, 
either Hore - Or sierearten) hese “1 esteemi¢ 
the essentials of every religion; and, being to 
be found in all the religions we had in our 
country, I respected them all, tho’ with differ- 
ent degrees of respect, as I found them more 
or less mix’d with other articles, which, with- 
out any tendency to inspire, promote, or con- 
firm morality, serv’d principally to divide us, 
and make us unfriendly to one another. This 
respect to all, with an opinion that the worst 
had some good effects, induc’d me to avoid all 
discourse that might tend to lessen the good 
opinion another might have of his own religion; 
and as our province increas’d in people, and 
new places of worship were continually wanted, 
and generally erected by voluntary contribu- 
tion, my mite for such purpose, whatever might 
be the sect, was never refused. 

Tho’ I seldom attended any public worship, 
I had still an opinion of its propriety, and of 
its utility when rightly conducted, and I regu- 
larly paid my annual subscription for the sup- 
port of the only Presbyterian minister or meet- 
_ ing we had in Philadelphia. He us’d to visit 
me sometimes as a friend, and admonished me 


1444 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 


to attend his administrations, and I was now 


and then prevail’d on to do so, once for five 


Sundays successively. Had he been in my 
opinion a good preacher, perhaps I might have 
continued,’ notwithstanding the occasion I had 
for the Sunday’s leisure in my course of study; 
but his discourses were chiefly either polemic 
arguments, or explications of the peculiar doc- 
trines of our sect, and were all to me very dry, 


uninteresting, and unedifying, since not a single 


moral principle was inculcated or enfore’d, their 
aim seeming to be rather to make us Presby- 
terians than good citizens. 

At length he took for his text that verse of 
the fourth chapter of Philippians, “ Finally, 
brethren, whatsoever things are true, honest, just, 
pure, lovely, or of good report, if there be any 
virtue, or any praise, think on these things.” 
And I imagin’d, in a sermon on such a text, 
we could not miss of having some morality. 
But he confin’d himself to five points only, 
as meant by the apostle, viz.: 1. Keeping 
holy the Sabbath day. 2. Being diligent in 
reading the holy Scriptures. 3. Attending duly 
the publick worship. 4. Partaking of the Sac- 
rament. 5. Paying a due respect to God’s min- 


1¥Franklin expressed a different view about the duty of attending 
church later. 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 145 


isters. These might be all good things; but, 
as they were not the kind of good things that 
I expected from that text, I despaired of ever 
meeting with them from any other, was dis- 
gusted, and attended his preaching no more. 
I had some years before .compos’d a little 
Liturgy, or form of prayer, for my own private 
use (viz., in 1728), entitled, Articles of Belief 
and Acts of Religion. I return’d to the use 
of this, and went no more to the public assem- 
blies. My conduct might be blameable, but 
[ leave it, without attempting further to excuse 
it; my present purpose being to relate facts, 
and not to make apologies for them. 


{xX 


PLAN FOR ATTAINING MORAL 
PERFECTION 


T was about this time I conceived 
megthe bold and arduous project of 
aay arriving at moral perteenon, 7 

eee wish’d to live without committing 
any fault at any time; I would conquer all that 
either natural inclination, custom, or company 
might lead me into. As I knew, or thought I 
knew, what was right and wrong, I did not see 
why I might not always do the one and avoid 
the other. But I soon found I had undertaken 
a, task of more difficulty than I had imagined.’ 
While my care was employ’d in guarding 
against one fault, I was often surprised by 
another; habit took the advantage of inatten- 
tion; inclination was sometimes too strong for 
reason. I concluded, at length, that the mere 
speculative conviction that it was our interest 
to be completely virtuous, was not sufficient to 
prevent our slipping; and that the contrary 
habits must be broken, and good ones acquired 
and established, before we can have any de- 


1Compare Philippians iv, 8. 
146 


a 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY, /147,, 


pendence on a steady, uniform rectitude of 
conduct. For this purpose I therefore con- 
trived the following method. 

In the various enumerations of the moral 
virtues I had met with in my reading, I found 
the catalogue more or less numerous, as dif- 
ferent writers included more or fewer ideas 
under the same name. Temperance, for ex- 
ample, was by some confined to eating and 
drinking, while by others it was extended to 
mean the moderating every other pleasure, ap- 
petite, inclination, or passion, bodily or mental, 
even to our avarice and ambition. I propos'd 
to myself, for the sake of clearness, to use 
rather more names, with fewer ideas annex’d 
to each, than a few names with more ideas; 
and I included under thirteen names of vir- 
tues all that at that time occurr’d to me as 
necessary or desirable, and annexed to each a 
short precept, which fully express’d the extent 
I gave to its meaning. 

These names of virtues, ius their precepts, 
were: COP TOL | 


7 
Fd 


I. TEMPERANCE. 
Fat not to dullness; drink not to elevation. 
‘204 SILENCE, 
Speak not but what may benefit others or 
yourself; avoid trifling conversation. 


ty 
a 


1448 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


f3. ORDER. 


) 


Let all your things have their places; let 
each part of your business have its time. 


4 4, RESOLUTION. 
Resolve to perform what you ought; per- 
form without fail what you resolve. 
5. FRUGALITY. 
Make no expense but to do good to others 
or yourself; 1. e., waste nothing. 
6. INDUSTRY. 
Lose no time; be always employ’d in some- 
thing useful; cut off all unnecessary actions. 
7. SINCERITY. 
Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and 
justly; and, if you speak, speak accordingly. 
8. JUSTICE. 
Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting 
the benefits that are your duty. 
‘| 9. MODERATION. 
Avoid extreams; forbear resenting injuries 
so much as you think they deserve. 


‘© 10. CLEANLINESS. 


Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, 
or habitation. 


' FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 149 


) © 11. TRANQUILLITY. 
Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents 
common or unavoidable. 


\312. CHASTITY. 


a 13. HUMILITY. 

Imitate Jesus and Socrates. 
™~, 

My intention being to acquire the habitude 
of all these virtues, I judg’d it would be well 
not to distract my attention by attempting the 
whole at once, but to fix it on one of them at 
a time; and, when I should be master of that, 
then to proceed to another, and so on, till I 
should have gone thro’ the thirteen; and, as 
the previous acquisition of some might facili- 
tate the acquisition of certain others, I arrang’d 
them with that view, as they stand above. Tem- 
perance first, as it tends to procure that cool- 
ness and clearness of head, which is so neces-. 
sary where constant vigilance was to be kept 
up, and guard maintained against the unremit- 
ting attraction of ancient habits, and the force 
of perpetual temptations. This being acquir’d 
and establish’d, Silence would be more easy; 
and my desire being to gain knowledge at the 
same time that I improv’d in virtue, and con- 
_ sidering that in conversation it was obtain’d 


rd 


130 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


rather by the use of the ears than of the tongue, 
and therefore wishing to break a habit I was 
getting into of prattling, punning, and joking, 
which only made me acceptable to trifling com- 
pany, I gave Silence the second place. This 
and the next, Order, I expected would allow 
me more time for attending to my project and 
my studies. Resolution, once become habitual, 
would keep me firm in my endeavours to ob- 
tain all the subsequent virtues; Frugality and 
Industry freeing me from my remaining debt, 
and producing affluence and independence, 
would make more easy the practice of Sin- 
cerity and Justice, etc., etc. Conceiving then, 
that, agreeably to the advice of Pythagoras’ 
in his Golden Verses, daily examination would 
be necessary, I contrived the following method 
for conducting that examination. 

I made a little book, in which I allotted a 
page for each of the virtues.” I rul’d each 
page with red ink, so as to have seven columns. 
one for each day of the week, marking each 
column with a letter for the day. I cross’d 


2A famous Greek philosopher, who lived about 582-500 B. Cc. 
The Golden Verses here ascribed to him are probably .of later 
origin. ‘The time which he recommends for this work is about 
even or bed-time, that we may conclude the action of the day with 


the judgment of conscience, making the examination of our con- — 


versation an evening song to God. 
2This “little book” is dated July 1, 1733.—W. T. F. 


7 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 151 


these columns with thirteen red lines, mark- 
ing the beginning of each line with the first 
letter of one of the virtues, on which line, and 
in its proper column, I might mark, by a little 
black spot, every fault I found upon examina- 
tion to have been committed respecting that 
virtue upon that day. 


Form of the pages. 


TEMPERANCE. 


EAT NOT TO DULLNESS 
DRINE NOT TO ELEVATION. 


I determined to give a week’s strict attention 
to each of the virtues successively. Thus, in the 


152 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 


first week, my great guard was to avoid every 
the least offense against Temperance, leaving 
the other virtues to their ordinary chance, only 
marking every evening the faults of the day. 
Thus, if in the first week I could keep my first 
line, marked T, clear of spots, I suppos’d the 
habit of that virtue so much strengthen’d, and 
its opposite weaken’d, that I might venture 
extending my attention to include the next, 
and for the following week keep both lines 
clear of spots. Proceeding thus to the last, 
I could go thro’ a course compleat in thirteen 
weeks, and four courses in a year. And like 
him who, having a garden to weed, does not 
attempt to eradicate all the bad herbs at once, 
which would exceed his reach and his strength, 
but works on one of the beds at a time, and, 


having accomplish’d the first, proceeds to a 


second, so I should have, I hoped, the encour- 
aging pleasure of seeing on my pages the prog- 
ress | made in virtue, by clearing successively 
my lines of their spots, till in the end, by a 
number of courses, I should be happy in view- 
ing a clean book, after a thirteen weeks’ daily 
examination. 

This my little book had for its motto these 
lines from Addison’s Cato: We. 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 183 


“ Here will I hold. If there’s a power above us 
(And that there is, all nature cries aloud 
Thro’ all her works), He must delight in virtue; 
And that which he delights in must be happy.” 


Another from Cicero, 


“O vite Philosophia dux! O virtutum indagatrix ex- 
pultrixque vitiorum! Unus dies, bene et ex preceptis tuis 
actus, peccanti immortalitati est anteponendus.” 4 


Another from the Proverbs of Solomon, 
speaking of wisdom or virtue: 
ef Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand 


riches and honour. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, 
and all her paths are peace.” iii. 16,17. , 


And conceiving God to be the fountain of 
wisdom, I thought it right and necessary to 
solicit his assistance for obtaining it; to this 
end I formed the following little prayer, which 
was prefix’d to my tables of examination, for 
daily use.. | 


“O powerful Goodness!. bountiful Father! merciful 
Guide! Increase in me that wisdom which discovers my 
truest interest. Strengthen my resolutions to perform what 
that wisdom dictates. Accept my kind offices to thy other 
children as the only return in my power for thy continual 
favours to me.” 


21“Q© philosophy, guide of life! O searcher out of virtue and 
exterminator of vice! One day spent well and in accordance 
with thy precepts is worth an immortality of sin.”—Tusculan In- 
quirtes, Book V. 


154 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


I used also sometimes a little prayer Aghia 
I took from Thomson’s Poems, viz.: 
“Father of light and life, thou Good Supreme! 
O teach me what is good; teach me Thyself! 
Save me from folly, vanity, and vice, 
From every low pursuit; and fill my soul 


With knowledge, conscious peace, and virtue pure; 
Sacred, substantial, never-fading bliss!” 


“The precept of Order requiring that every 
aie of my business should have its allotted time, 
one page in my little book contain’d the fol- 


lowing scheme of employment for the twenty- 
four hours of a natural day. 


% 5 Rise, wash, and ad- 

fp 6 dress Powerful Good- 

THE MorRNING. ness! Contrive day’s 
Question. What good y business, and take the 


shall I do this day? resolution of the day; 


prosecute the present 
study, and breakfast. 


Work. 


Naot | 12 } Read, or overlook my 


accounts, and dine. 


Work. 


-FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 155 


Put things in their 


EVENING. places. Supper. Music 
Question. What good i or diversion, or conver- 
have I have done to-day? sation. Examination of 
9 the day. 

10 

II 

12 

NIGHT. I Sleep. 

2 

3 

4 


I enter’d upon the execution of this plan 
for self-examination, and continu’d it with occa- 
sional intermissions for some time. I was sur- 
pris'd to find myself so much fuller of faults 
than I had imagined; but I had the satisfaction 
of seeing them diminish.,“To avoid the trouble 
of renewing now and then my little book, 
which, by scraping out the marks on the paper 
of old faults to make room for new ones in a 
new course, became full of holes, I transferr’d 
my tables and precepts to the ivory leaves of 
a memorandum book, on which the lines were 
drawn with red ink, that made a durable stain, 
and on those lines I mark’d my faults with a 
black-lead pencil, which marks I could easily 
Wipe out with a wet sponge. After a while I 
went thro’ one course only in a year, and after- 


‘156 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


ward only one in several years, till at length 


I omitted them entirely, being employ’d in — 


voyages and business abroad, with a multi- 
plicity of affairs that interfered; but I always 
carried my little book with me. 

My scheme of ORDER gave me the most 
-trouble;* and I found that, tho’ it might be 
practicable where a man’s business was such 
as to leave him the disposition of his time, that 
of a journeyman printer, for instance, it was 
not possible to be exactly observed by a master, 
who must mix with the world, and often re- 
ceive people of business at their own hours. 
Order, too, with regard to places for things, 
papers, etc., I found extreamly difficult to 
acquire. I had not been early accustomed to 
it, and, having an exceeding good memory, I 
was not so sensible of the inconvenience attend- 
ing want of method. This article, therefore, 


cost me so much painful attention, and my ~ 


faults in it vexed me so much, and I made so 
little progress in amendment, and had such 
frequent relapses, that I was almost ready 
to give up the attempt, and content myself with 

1 Professor McMaster tells us that when Franklin was Ameri- 
can Agent in France, his lack of business order was a source of 
annoyance to his colleagues and friends. ‘‘ Strangers who came to 


see him were amazed to behold papers of the greatest importance 
scattered in the most careless way over the table and floor.” 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 157 


a- faulty character in that respect, like the 
man who, in buying an ax of a smith, my neigh- 
bour, desired to have the whole of its surface 
as bright as the edge. The smith consented 
to grind it bright for him if he would turn the 
wheel; he turn’d, while the smith press’d the 
broad face of the ax hard and heavily on the 


x 
ON ZA 
SN es AWN 
Witt an} " 
== sh 
Eros 
Ny 
NI 


Aik 
Ane 
Hit 


stone, which made the turning of it very fatigu- 
ing. The man came every now and then from 
the wheel to see how the work went on, and 
at length would take his ax as it was, without 
farther grinding. “No,” said the smith, “turn 
on, turn on; we shall have it bright by-and-by; 
as yet, it is only speckled.” ‘“ Yes,’ says the 
man, “but I think I like a speckled ax best.’ 
And I believe this may have been the case 
with many, who,: having, for want of some 
such means as I employ’d, found the difficulty 
of obtaining good and breaking bad habits in 


158 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


other points of vice and virtue, have given up 
the struggle, and concluded that “a speckled 
ax was best”; for something, that pretended 
to be reason, was every now and then sug- 
gesting to me that such extream nicety as I 
exacted of myself might be a kind of foppery 
in morals, which, if it were known, would make 
me ridiculous; that a perfect character might 
be attended with the inconvenience of being 
envied and hated; and that a benevolent man 
should allow a few faults in himself, to keep 
his friends in countenance. 

In truth, I found myself incorrigible with 
respect to Order; and now I am grown old, 
and my memory bad, I feel very sensibly the 
want of it. But, on the whole, tho’ I never 
arrived at the perfection I had been so am- 
bitious of obtaining, but-fell far short of it, 
yet I was, by. the endeavour, a better and 2 
happier man than I otherwise should have been 
if I had not attempted it; as those who aim at 
perfect writing by imitating thé engraved 
copies, tho’ they never reach the wishd-for 
excellence of those copies, their hand is mended — 
by the endeavour, and is tolerable while it con- 
tinues fair and legible. : | 
It may be well my posterity should be 
informed that: to this little artifice, ~with the 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY § 159 


blessing of God, their ancestor ow’d the con- 
stant felicity of his life, down to his 79th year, 
in which this is written. What reverses may 
attend the remainder is in the hand of Provi- 
erdence; but, 1f they arrive, the reflection on 
past happiness enjoy’d ought to help his bear- 
ing them with more resignation. To Tem- 
perance he ascribes his long-continued health, 
and what is still left to him of a good con- 
stitution; to Industry and Frugality, the early 
easiness of his circumstances and acquisition of 
his fortune, with all that knowledge that enabled 
him to be a useful citizen, and obtained for 
him some degree of reputation among the 
learned; to Sincerity and Justice, the confi- 
dence of his country, and the honorable em- 
ploys it conferred upon him; and to the joint 
influence of the whole mass of the virtues,’ 
even in the imperfect state he was able to 
acquire them, all that evenness of temper, and 
that cheerfulness in conversation, which makes 
his company. still sought for, and agreeable 
-1While there can be no question that Franklin’s moral improve- 
ment and happiness were due to the practice of these virtues, yet 
most people will agree that we shall have to go back of his plan 
for the impelling motive to a virtuous life. Franklin’s own sug- 
gestion that the scheme smacks of “ foppery in morals” seems jus- 
tified. Woodrow Wilson well puts it: ‘“ Men do not take fire 


from such thoughts, unless something deeper, which is missing 
here, shine through them. What may have seemed to the 


: ean 
160 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


even to his younger acquaintance. I hope, 
therefore, that some of my descendants may 
follow the example and reap the benefit. - 

It will be remark’d that, tho’ my scheme was 
not wholly without religion, there was in it no 
mark of any of the distinguishing tenets of 
any particular sect. I had purposely avoided 
them; for, being fully persuaded of the utility 
and excellency of my method, and that it might 
be serviceable to people in all religions, and 
intending some.time or other to publish it, I 
would not have anything in it that should preju- 
dice anyone, of any sect, against it. I pur- 
posed writing a little comment on each virtue, 
in which I would have shown the advantages 
of possessing it, and the mischiefs attending 
its opposite vice; and I should have called my 
book THE ART OF VIRTUE,’ because it would 
have shown the means and manner of obtain- 
ing virtue, which would have distinguished it 
from the mere exhortation to be good, that 
does not instruct and indicate the means, but 


eighteenth century a system of morals seems to us nothing more 
vital than a collection of the precepts of good sense and sound 
conduct. What redeems it from pettiness:in this book is the 
scope of power and of usefulness to be seen in Franklin himself, 
who set these standards up in all seriousness and candor for his 
own life.” See Galatians, chapter V, for the Christian plan of 
moral perfection. 


1 Nothing so likely to make a man’s fortune as virtue—Marg. note. 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 161 


is like the apostle’s man of verbal charity, who 
only without showing to the naked and hun- 
ery how or where they might get clothes or 
victuals, exhorted them to be fed and clothed. 
—James ii. 15, 16. 

But it so happened that my intention of 
writing and publishing this comment was never 
fulfilled. I did, indeed, from time to time, put — 
down short hints of the sentiments, reasonings, 
etc., to be made use of in it, some of which I 
have still by me; but the necessary close atten- 
tion to private business in the earlier part of 
my life, and public business since, have occa- 
sioned my postponing it; for, it. being con- 
nected in my mind with a great and extensive 
project, that required the whole man to execute, 
and which an unforeseen succession of employs 
prevented my attending to, it has hitherto re- 
main’d unfinish’d. 

In this: piece it was my design to explain 
and enforce this doctrine, that vicious actions 
are not hurtful because they are forbidden, but 
forbidden because they are hurtful, the nature 
of man alone considered; that it was, there- 
fore, everyone’s interest to be virtuous who 
wish’d to be happy even in this world; and 
1 should, from this circumstance (there being 
always in the world a number of rich mer- 


162 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


chants, nobility, states, and princes, who have 
need of honest instruments for the manage- 
ment of their affairs, and such being so rare), 
have endeavoured to convince young persons 
that no qualities were so likely to make a poor 
man’s fortune as those of probity and integrity. 

My list of virtues contain’d at first but twelve; 
but a Quaker friend having kindly informed 
me that I was generally thought proud; that 
my pride show’d itself frequently in conversa- 
tion; that I was not content with being: in 
the right when discussing any point, but was — 
overbearing, and rather insolent, of which he 
convine’d me by mentioning several instances; 
I determined endeavouring to cure myself, if 
I could, of this vice or folly among the rest, 
and. added.__=Humility to my list, giving an 
extensive meaning to the word. 

I cannot boast of much success in acquiring 
the reality of this virtue, but I had a good 
deal with regard to the appearance of it. I 
made it a rule to’ forbear all direct contradic- 
tion to the sentiments of others, and all posi- 
tive assertion of my own. I even forbid my- 
self, agreeably to the old laws of our Junto, 
the use of every word or expression in the 
language that imported a fix’d opinion, such 
as : certainly, undoubtedly, ete; and~I—adopted? , 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY |= 163 


instead of them, J conceive, I apprehend, or 
I imagine a thing to be so or so; or it. so appears 
to me at present. When another asserted some- 
thing that I thought an error, I deny’d myself 
the pleasure of contradicting him abruptly, and 
of showing immediately some absurdity in his 
proposition; and in answering I began by ob- 
serving that in certain cases or circumstances 
his opinion would be right, but in the present 
case there appear’d or seem’d to me some dif- 
ference, etc. I soon found the advantage of 
this change in my manner; the conversations 
I engag’d in: went on more pleasantly. The 
modest way in which I propos’d my opinions 
procur’d them a readier reception and less con- 
tradiction; I had less mortification when I was 
found to be in the wrong, and I more easily 
prevail’d with others to give up their mistakes 
and join with me when I happened to be in 
the right. 

And this mode, which I at first put on with 
some violence to natural inclination, became 
at length so easy, and so habitual to me, that 
perhaps for these fifty years past no one has 
ever heard a dogmatical expression escape me. 
And to this habit (after my character of integ- 
rity) I think it principally owing that I had 
early so much weight with my fellow-citizens 


1644 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


when I proposed new institutions, or altera- 
tions in the old, and so much influence in public 
councils when I became a member; for I was 
but a bad speaker, never eloquent, subject to 
much hesitation in my choice of words, hardly 
correct in language, and yet I generally carried 
my points. | 

In reality, there is, perhaps, no one of our 
natural passions so hard to subdue as pride. 
Disguise it, struggle with it, beat it down, 
stifle it, mortify it as much as one pleases, it 
is still alive, and will every now and then peep 
out and show itself; you will see it, perhaps, 
often in this history; for, even if I could con- 
ceive that I had compleatly overcome it, I 
should probably be proud of my humility. 

[Thus far written at Passy, 1784.] 


[“Z am now about to write at home, August, 
1788, but cannot have the help expected from 
my papers, many of them being lost in the war. 
I have, however, found the following.” | * 


HAVING mentioned a great and extensive 
project which I had conceiv’d, it seems proper 
that some account should be here given of 
that project and its object. Its first rise in 


1This is a marginal memorandum.—B. 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY | 165. 


my mind appears in the following little paper, 
accidentally preserv’d, viz.: 


Observations on my reading history, in 
Library, May 19th, 1731. 

“That the great affairs of the world, the wars, 
revolutions, etc., are carried on and effected by 
parties. 

“That the view of these parties is their 
present general interest, or what they take to 
be such. 

“That the different, views of these different 
parties occasion all confusion. 

“That while a party is carrying on a gen- 
eral design, each man has his particular private 
interest in view. : 

“That as soon as a party has gain’d its 
general point, each member becomes intent 
upon his particular interest; which, thwarting 
others, breaks that party into divisions, and 
occasions more confusion. 

“That few in public affairs act from a meer 
view of the good of their country, whatever 
they may pretend; and, tho’ their actings bring 
real good to their country, yet men primarily 
considered that their own and their country’s 
interest was united, and did not act from a prin- 
ciple of benevolence. 


16 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


“That fewer still, in public affairs, act with 
a view to the good of mankind. 

“There seems to me at present to be great 
occasion for raising a United Party for Virtue, 
by forming the virtuous and good men of all 
fhations into a regular body, to be govern’d 
by suitable good and wise rules, which good 
and wise men may probably be more unani- 
mous in their obedience to, than common people 
are to common laws. 3 

“T at present think that whoever attempts 
this aright, and is well qualified, cannot fail of 
pleasing God, and of meeting with success. 

| bee nett: 


Revolving this project in my mind, as to be 
undertaken hereafter, when my circumstances 
should afford me the necessary leisure, I put 
down from time to time, on pieces of paper, 
such thoughts as occurr’d to me respecting it. — 
Most of these are lost; but I find one purport- 
ing to be the substance of an intended creed, 
containing, as I thought, the essentials of every 
known religion, and being free of everything 
that might shock the professors of any religion. 
It is express’d in these words, viz.: 

“That there is one God, who made all things. 

‘That he governs the world by his providence. 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY « 167 


~“That he ought to be worshiped by adora- 
tion, prayer, and thanksgiving. 

“ But that the most acceptable service of God 
is doing good to man. 

“That the soul is immortal. 

“And that God will certainly reward virtue 
and punish vice, either here or hereafter.” 

My ideas at that time were, that the sect 
should be begun and spread at first among 
young and single men only; that each person 
to be initiated should not only declare his 
assent to such creed, but should have exercised 
himself with the thirteen weeks’ examination 
and practice of the virtues, as in the before- 
mention’d model; that the existence of such a 
society should be kept a secret, till it was be- 
come considerable, to prevent solicitations for 
the admission of improper persons, but that the 
members should each of them search among 
his acquaintance for ingenuous, well-disposed 
youths, -.o whom, with prudent caution, the 
scheme should be gradually communicated; that 
‘the members should engage to afford their 
advic», assistance, and support to each other 
in promoting one another’s interests, business, 
and advancement in life; that, for distinction, 
we should be call’d The Soctety of the Free 
and Easy: free, as being, by the general prac- 


‘Al 


168 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


tice and habit of the virtues, free from the 
dominion of vice; and particularly by the prac- 
tice of industry and frugality, free from debt, 
which exposes a man to confinement, and a 
species of slavery to his creditors. 

This is as much as I can now recollect of 
the project, except that I communicated it 
in part to two young men, who adopted it 
with some enthusiasm; but my then narrow 
circumstances, and the necessity I was under 
of sticking close to my business, occasion’d my 
postponing the further prosecution of it at that 
time; and my multifarious occupations, public 
and private, induc’d me to continue postponing, 
so that it has been omitted till I have no 
longer strength or activity left sufficient for 
such an enterprise; though I am still of opinion 
that it was a practicable scheme, and might 
have been very useful, by forming a great num- 
ber of good citizens; and I was not discourag’d 
by the seeming magnitude of the undertaking, 
as I have always thought that one man of 
tolerable abilities may work great chang*s, and 
accomplish great affairs among mank-nd, if 
he first forms a good plan, and, cutting off all 
amusements or other employments that would 
divert his attention, makes the execution of 
that same plan his sole study and busines... 


x 


POOR RICHARD’S ALMANAC AND 
OTHER ACTIVITIES 


N 1732 I first publish’d my Alma- 
nack, under the name of Richard 


x 


r Saunders; it was continu’d by me 


about twenty-five years, commonly 
call’d Poor Richard’s Almanac,’ I endeavour’d 
to make it both entertaining and useful, and it 
accordingly came to be in such demand, that 
I reap’d considerable profit from it, vending 
annually near ten thousand. And observing 
that it was generally read, scarce any neigh- 
borhood in the province being without it, I 
consider’d it as a proper vehicle for convey- 
ing instruction among the common people, who 
bought scarcely any other books; I therefore 
filled all the little spaces that occurr’d between 
the remarkable days in the calendar with pro- 
verbial sentences, chiefly such as inculcated 
industry and frugality, as the means of pro- 


1The almanac at that time was a kind of periodical as well as 
a guide to natural phenomena and the weather. Franklin took 
his title from Poor Robin, a famous English almanac, and from 
Richard Saunders, a well-known almanac publisher. For the 
maxims of Poor Richard, see pages 331-335. 
169 


170 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


curing wealth, and thereby securing virtue; it 
being more difficult for a man in want, to act 
always honestly, as, to use here one of those 
proverbs, it 1s hard for an ema sack to stand 
upright. 

These proverbs, which contained the wis- 
dom of many ages and nations, I assembled 
and form’d into a connected discourse prefix’d 


to the Almanack of 1757, as the harangue of 
a wise old man to the people attending an. 
auction. The bringing all these scatter’d coun- 


cils thus into a focus enabled them to make 


greater impression. The piece, being univer- 


sally approved, was copied in all the news- 
papers of the Continent; reprinted in Britain 


on a broadside, to be stuck up in houses; two 


translations were made of it in French, and 
great numbers bought by the clergy and gentry, 
to distribute gratis among their poor parishion- 
ers and tenants. In Pennsylvania, as it dis- 
couraged useless expense in foreign superflu- 
ities, some thought it had its share of influence 
in producing that growing plenty of money 


which was observable for several years after: 


its publication. 

I considered my newspaper, also, as another 
means of communicating instruction, and in 
that view frequently reprinted in it extracts 


Two pages from Poor Richard’s Almanac for 1736. Size of original, 
Reproduced from a copy at the New York Public Library. 


IV Mon. June hath .xxx days. 


Things that\are bitter, bitterrer than Gall 
Phyficians fay are always phyfical : 
Now Women’s Tongues if into Powder beaten, 
re in a Posion or a Pill be eaten, 
And as there's nought more bitter, f do mufe, 
That Women’s Tongues in Phyfick they ne'er ufe. 
My felf and others. who lead reftlefs Lives, 
Would fpare rhat bitrcer Member of our Wives. 


36 8) Jiet 10 12 aft 
3§ 8) He shat can have 
35 8|Patience, can 
35 Sibave what he 

35 8 Firft Quarter, 
35 Siwill. 


23439 thunder, 


3] perbaps bail. 
} 47* rife 2 15 


34 8imaking longe 

34. Siday 14h. 51m. 
34 8iFull @ 12day, 
34 8} at I morn. | 


then vain. 


Whitfiundeap. 


15 3|K-Gro. IT. procl |3 [1514 
: ff. © h wind, rain, j2714 
5\K hh & hail and j5 |X 


35 
35 Sibody bids megool 


/ 35 Slnorresy. 


1 thunder. 6 \2114 35 8|Deiferr 1oaf, 
19 35 8 

20 36 giLaft Quarter. 
21 36 8iGod helps them 
22 36 Sthat belp them- 


36 Selves. 

36 8D rife 2 mor. 
37 8|Wby does the 
37 Siblind man's wife 


2a) sist. ohn Ban. 
: Ae rife 1 8 ‘i 


2 
2 frrange. 1 [1614 38 giNew 327 da 
28 2|K h g bailand j2 |Q\4 38 8 near deci 
2g] 3/St- Jeter Salih sig 39 8) Paint herfelf. 
30] HOSS vain. — 3 Inpig go 8) Diets 9 30 


V Mon. = July hath xxxi days. 


Who can charge Ebrio with Thirft of Wealth ? 
See he confumes his Money, Time and Health, 
In drunken Frolicks which will all confound, 
Negle&s his Farm, forgets to till his Ground, 

His Stock grows lefs that might be kept with eafe ; 
In noughr but Gurs and Debts he finds Encreafe. 
In Town reels as if he’d fhove down each Wall, 
Yer Walls muft ftand, poor Soul, or he muft fall. 
AE LD Se SHER ST eS 


40 8|None preaches 


5)Day fhort. 11 mif4 [1514 
24 


Slant, and foe fays 
2OuUNd.p Crinit [ohm l4 42 SFist Quarter.’ 
* 7 11414 43 Spotbing. 

4 44 8] dfers 12 3om 
45 8\The abjent are 

1012314. 46 Elever ewithout 
1olvpla. 47 8] fale, nor the 
1111814 48 8] prefext without 
3 OUND. p.Trin.jr2jl4 49 8Full@ 11 day, 
I [1314 50 8} 2 afternoon. 
3og-Days begini2 j2siq 50 8] Oin 

Days 14h. 20 mj2h}€lq 51 8} DrifeS 35 aff. 
5\St. Sausthin. 3 11914 92 Slexcu/e, 


pleafant weather |8 27 
Some days 


16 Bris V4 53 8 
17] 16 O8 rain 1314 54 8| Gifts barf 
18 17* rife 11 40 = 16: 12514. 55. Slrocks 


56 g|Laft Quarrer. 
57 8 Drife 11 52 af 


2a) 4i7* rife 11 18 18 |I14 57 S|Af wind blozws on 
22 then high 9 11414 58 8|you thro’ a bole, 
23 wind, 19}2 914 59 g Make jour evill 
24] 7/8Ox 199514 59 Shand take care of 
24 t. Yames. 11/2515 © 7} your foul. 

2¢ hail =J12IQis5 1 7|New D 26day, 
27) 3| Dnear cor §) I l24l5 2.7] -near8 aftern 
28] 419 YP acleay |2 Impls 3 3] Dfets 8 aftern. 
29 air, and fine|2bizals 4 7\The rotten Apple 
30 weather 3 [15 «5 7) Spoils bis Com- 

31 717* rife 10 go . 14 l2zls 6 9! panion, 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 175 


from the Spectator, and other moral writers; 
and sometimes publish’d little pieces of my 
own, which had been first compos’d for read- 
ing in our Junto. Of these are a Socratic dia- 
logue, tending to prove that, whatever might 
be his parts and abilities, a vicious man could 
not properly be called a man of sense; and a 
discourse on self-denial, showing that virtue 
was not secure till its practice became a habi- 
tude, and was free from the opposition of con- 
trary inclinations. These may be found in the 
papers about the beginning of 1735.* 

In the conduct of my newspaper, I carefully 
excluded all libeling and personal abuse, which 
is of late years become so disgraceful to our 
country. Whenever I was solicited to insert 
anything of that kind, and the writers pleaded, 
as they generally did, the liberty of the press, 
and that a newspaper was like a stage-coach, 
in which anyone who would pay had a right to a 
place, my answer was, that I would print the 
piece separately if desired, and the author might 
have as many copies as he pleased to distrib- 
ute himself, but that I would not take upon 
me to spread his detraction; and that, having 
contracted with my subscribers to furnish them 
with what might be either useful or enter- 

1June 23 and July 7, 1730.—Smyth. 


} 
176 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


taining, I could not fill their papers with private 
altercation, in which they had no concern, with-. 
out doing them manifest injustice. Now, many 
of our printers make no scruple of gratifying 
the malice of individuals by false accusations 
of the fairest characters among ourselves, aug- 
menting animosity even to the producing of 
duels; and are, moreover, so indiscreet as to 
print scurrilous reflections on the government 
of neighboring states, and even on the con- 
duct of our best national allies, which may be 
attended with the most pernicious consequences. 
These things I mention as a caution to young 
printers, and that they may be encouraged 
not to pollute their presses and disgrace their 
profession by such infamous practices, but 
refuse steadily, as they may see by my 
example that such a course of conduct will 
not, on the whole, be injurious to their in- 


terests. oe 
In 1733 I sent one of my journeymen to 


Charleston, South Carolina, where a printer 
was wanting. I furnish’d him with a press 
and letters, on. an agreement of partnership, 
by which I was to receive one-third of the 
profits of the business, paying one-third of the 
expense. He was a man of learning, and hon- 
est but ignorant in matters of account; and, 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 177 


tho’ he sometimes made me remittances, I could 
get no account from him, nor any satisfactory 
state of our partnership while he lived. On 
his decease, the business was continued by his 
widow, who, being born and bred in Holland, 
where, as I have been inform’d, the knowledge 
of accounts makes a part of female education, 
she not only sent me as clear a state as she 
could find of the transactions past, but con- 
tinued to account with the greatest regularity 
and exactness every quarter afterwards, and 
managed the business with such success, that 
she not only brought up reputably a family of 
children, but, at the expiration of the term, 
was able to purchase of me the printing-house, 
and establish her son in it. 

I mention this affair chiefly for the sake of 
recommending that branch of education for 
our young females, as likely to be of more 
use to them and their children, in case of 
widowhood, than either music or dancing, by 
preserving them from losses by imposition of 
crafty men, and enabling them to continue, 
perhaps, a profitable mercantile house, with 
- establish’d correspondence, till a son is grown 
up fit to undertake and go on with it, to 
the lasting advantage and enriching of the 
family. 


178 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


About the year 1734 there arrived among us 
from Ireland a young Presbyterian preacher, 
named Hemphill, who delivered with a good 
voice, and apparently extempore, most excellent 
discourses, which drew together considerable 
numbers of different persuasions, who join’d 
in admiring them. Among the rest, I became 
one of his constant hearers, his sermons pleas- 
ing me, as they had little of the dogmatical — 
kind, but inculcated strongly the practice of 
virtue, or what in the religious stile are called 
good works. ‘Those, however, of our congre-. 
gation, who considered themselves as orthodox 
Presbyterians, disapprov’d his doctrine, and 
were join’d by most of the old clergy, who 
arraign’d him of heterodoxy before the synod, 
in order to have him silene’d. I became his 
zealous partisan, and contributed all I could 
to raise a party in his favour, and we com- 
bated for him awhile with some hopes of suc- 
cess. There was much scribbling pro and con 
upon the occasion; and finding that, tho’ an 
elegant preacher, he was but a poor writer, I 
lent him my pen and wrote for him two or 
three pamphlets, and one piece in the Gazette 
of April, 1735. Those pamphlets, as is gen- 
erally the case with controversial writings, tho’ . 
eagerly read at~the time, were soon out of 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 179 


vogue, and [ question whether a single copy 
of them now exists." 

During the contest an unlucky occurrence 
hurt his cause exceedingly. One of our adver- 
saries having heard him preach a sermon that 
was much admired, thought he had somewhere 
read the sermon before, or at least a part of 
it. On search, he found that part quoted at 
length, in one of the British Reviews, from a dis- 
course of Dr. Foster’s.” This detection gave 
many of our party disgust, who accordingly 
abandoned his cause, and occasion’d our more 
speedy discomfiture in the synod. I stuck by 
him, however, as I rather approv’d his giving 
us good sermons composed by others, than bad 
ones of his own manufacture, tho’ the latter 
was the practice of our common teachers. He 
afterward acknowledg’d to me that none of 
those he preach’d were his own; adding, that 
his memory was such as enabled him to retain 
and repeat any sermon after one reading only. 


1See “A List of Books written by, or relating to Benjamin 
Franklin,” by Paul Leicester Ford. 1889. p. 15.—Smyth. 
2Dr. James Foster (1697-1753) :— 
“Let modest Foster, if he will excel 
Ten metropolitans in preaching well.” 
—Pope (Epilogue to the Satires, I, 132). 
“Those who had not heard Farinelli sing and Foster preach 
' were not qualified to appear in genteel company,’ Hawkins. “ His- 
tory of Music.”—Smyth. 


yo FRANKLIN'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


On our defeat, he. left us in search elsewhere 
of better fortune, and I quitted the congrega- 
tion, never joining it after, tho’ I continu’d — 
many years my subscription for the support 
of its ministers. 

I had begun in 1733 to study languages; I 
soon made myself so much a master of the 
French as to be able to read the books with 
ease. I then undertook the Italian. An ac- 
quaintance, who was also learning it, us’d often 
to tempt me to play chess with him. Finding 
this took up too much of the time I had to 
spare for study, I at length refus’d to play 
any more, unless on this condition, that the 
victor in every game should have a right to 
impose a task, either in parts of the grammar 
to be -got by heart, or in translations, etc., 
which tasks the vanquish’d was to perform 
upon honour, before our next meeting. As we 
play’d pretty equally, we thus beat one another 
into that language. I afterwards with a little 
painstaking, acquir’d as much of the Spanish 
as to read their books also. 

I have already mention’d that I had only:one 
year’s instruction in a Latin school, and that 
when very young, after which I neglected that 
language entirely. But, when I had attained 
an acquaintance with the French, Italian, and 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 181 


Spanish, I was surpriz’d to find, on looking 
over a Latin Testament, that I understood so 
much more of that language than I had 
imagined, which encouraged me to apply my- 
self again to the study of it, and I met with 
more success, as those preceding languages had 
greatly smooth’d my way. 

From these circumstances, I have thought 
that there is some inconsistency in our com- 
mon mode of teaching languages. We are told 
that it is proper to begin first with the Latin, 
and, having acquir’d that, it will be more easy 
to attain those modern languages which are de- 
riv'd from it; and yet we do not begin with the 
Greek, in order more easily to acquire the Latin: 
It is true that, if you can clamber and get to 
the top of a staircase without using the steps, 
you will more easily gain them in descending; 
but certainly, if you begin with the lowest you 
will with more ease ascend to the top; and I 
would therefore offer it to the consideration 
of those who superintend the education of our — 
youth, whether, since many of those who begin 
with the Latin quit the same after spending 
some years without having made any great 
proficiency, and what they have learnt becomes 
almost useless, so that their time has been 
lost, it would not have been better to have 


182 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


begun with the French, proceeding to the 


Italian, etc.; for, tho’, after spending the same 
time, they should quit the study of languages 
and never arrive at the Latin, they would, how- 
ever, have acquired another tongue or two, that, 
being in modern use, might be serviceable to 
them in common life.’ 

After ten years’ absence from Boston, and 
having become easy in my circumstances, I 
made a journey thither to visit my relations, 
which I could not sooner well afford. In re- 
turning, I call’d at Newport to see my brother, 
then settled there with his printing-house. Our 
former differences were forgotten, and our 
meeting was very cordial and affectionate. He 
was fast declining in his health, and requested 
of me that, in case of his death, which he ap- 
-prehended not far distant, I would take home 
his son, then but ten years. of age, and bring 


1“ The authority of Franklin, the most eminently practical man 
of his age, in favor of reserving the study of the dead languages 
until the mind has reached a certain maturity, is confirmed by the 
confession of one of the most eminent scholars of any age. 

“Our seminaries of learning,’ says Gibbon, ‘do not exactly 
correspond with the precept of a Spartan king, that the child 
should be instructed in the arts which will be useful to the man; 
since a finished scholar may emerge from: the head of West- 
minster or Eton, in total ignorance of the business and con- 
versation of English gentlemen in the latter end of the eighteenth 
century. But these schools may assume the merit of teaching all 
that they pretend to teach, the Latin and Greek languages.’ ”— 
Bigelow. 


eae 
. 
Lf 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 183 


him up to the printing business. This’ I accord- 
ingly perform’d, sending him a few years to 
school before I took him into the office. His 
mother carried on the business till he was 
grown up, when I assisted him with an assort- 
ment of new types, those of his father being 
in a manner worn out. Thus it was that I made 


depriv’d him of by leaving him so early. 

In 1736 I lost one of my sons, a fine boy of 
four years old, by the small-pox, taken in the 
common way. I long regretted bitterly, and 
still regret that I had not given it to him by 
inoculation. This I mention for the sake of 
parents who omit that operation, on the sup- 
position that they should never forgive them- 
selves if a child died indér it; my example show- 
ing that the regret may be the same either way, 
and that, therefore, the safer should be chosen. 

Our club, the Junto, was found so useful, and 


184 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


to: ere 
Sh a ers 


afforded such satisfaction to the members, that ; 


several. were desirous of introducing their 


friends, which could not well be done without 
exceeding what we had settled as a convenient 
number, viz., twelve. We had from the be- 
ginning made it a rule to keep our institu- 
tion a secret, which was pretty well observ d; 
the intention was to avoid applications of im- 
proper persons for admittance, some of whom, 
perhaps, we might find it difficult to refuse. 
I was one of those who were against any addi- 
tion to our number, but, instead of it, made 
in writing a proposal, that every member sep- 
arately should endeavour to form a subordinate 
club, with the same rules respecting queries, 
etc., and without informing them of the con- 
nection with the Junto. The advantages pro- 
posed were, the improvement of so many more 


- young citizens by the use of our institutions; 


our better acquaintance with the general senti- 
ments of the inhabitants on any occasion, as 
the Junto member might propose what queries 
we should desire, and was to report to the 
Junto what pass’d in his separate club; the 
promotion of our particular interests in. busi- 
ness by more extensive recommendation, and 
the increase of our influence in public affairs, — 
and our power of doing good by spreading 
f 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 185 


thro’ the several clubs the sentiments of the 
Junto. 

The project was approv’d, and every mem- 
ber undertook to form his club, but they did 
not all succeed. Five or six only were com- 
pleated, which were called by different names, 
as the Vine, the Union, the Band, etc. They 
were useful to themselves, and afforded us a 
good deal of amusement, information, and in- 
struction, besides answering, in some consider- 
able degree, our views of influencing the public 
Opinion on particular occasions, of which I shall 
give some instances in course of time as they 
happened. : ! 

My first promotion was my being chosen, 
in 1736, clerk of the General Assembly. The 
choice was made that year without opposition; 
but the year following, when I was again pro- 
pos’d (the choice, like that of the members, 
being annual), a new member made a long 
speech against me, in order to favour some 
other candidate. , I was, however, chosen, which 
was the more agreeable to me, as, besides the 
pay for the immediate service as clerk, the 
place gave me a better opportunity of keep- 
ing up an interest among the members, which 
secur'd to me the business of printing the votes, 
laws, paper money, and other occasional jobbs. 


186 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


for the public, that, on the whole, were very 
profitable. 

I therefore did not like the opposition of this 
new member, who was a gentleman of for- 
tune and education, with talents that were likely 
to give him, in time, great influence in the 
House, which, indeed, afterwards happened. I 
did not, however, aim at gaining his favour 
by paying any servile respect to him, but, after 
some time, took this other method. Having 
heard that he had in his library a certain very 
scarce and curious book, I wrote a note to him, 
expressing my desire of perusing that book, 
and requesting he would do me the favour of 
lending it to me for a few days. He sent it 
immediately, and I return’d it in about a week © 
with another note, expressing strongly my — 
sense of the favour. When we next met in 
the House, he spoke to: me (which he had © 
never done before), and with great civility; — 
and he ever after manifested a readiness to 
serve me on all occasions, so that we became 
great friends, and our friendship continued to 
his death. This is another instance of the truth 
of an old maxim I had learned, which says, 
“He that has once done you a kindness will be 
more ready to do you another, than he whom 
you yourself have obliged.’ And it shows how | 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 187 


much more profitable it is prudently to re- 
move, than to resent, return, and continue 
inimical proceedings. 

In 1737, Colonel Spotswood, late governor 
of Virginia, and then postmaster-general, being 
dissatisfied with the conduct of his deputy at 
Philadelphia, respecting some negligence in 
rendering, and inexactitude of his accounts, took 
from him the commission and offered it to 
me. I accepted it readily, and found it of great 
advantage; for, tho’ the salary was small, it 
facilitated the correspondence that improv’d 
my newspaper, increas’d the number demanded, 
as well as the advertisements to be inserted, 
so that it came to afford me a considerable in- 
come. My old competitor’s newspaper declin’d 
proportionately, and I was satisfy’d without 
retaliating his refusal, while postmaster, to per- 
mit my papers being carried by the riders. 
Thus he suffer’d greatly from his neglect in 
due accounting; and I mention it as a lesson 
to those young men who may be employ’d in 
managing affairs for others, that they should 
always render accounts, and make remittances, 


with great clearness and punctuality. The char- 


acter of observing such a conduct is the most 
powerful of all recommendations to new em- 
ployments and increase of business. 


< 


XI 


INTEREST IN PUBLIC APTS. 


NCE) Y BEGAN _ now to turn my thoughts 
NewS Hl a little to public affairs, beginning, 
Bes | however, with small matters. The 

nea} City watch was one of the first 
things that I conceiv’d to want regulation. It 
was managed by the constables of the respect- 
ive wards in turn; the constable warned a num- 
ber of housekeepers to attend him for the night. 
Those who chose never to attend, paid him 
six shillings a year to be excus’d, which was 
suppos’d to be for hiring substitutes, but was, 
in reality, much more than was necessary for 
that purpose, and. made the constableship a 
place of profit; and the constable, for a little 
drink, often got such ragamuffins about him 
as a watch, that respectable housekeepers did 
not choose to mix with. Walking the rounds, 
too, was often neglected, and most of the nights 
spent in tippling. I thereupon wrote a paper 
to be read in Junto, representing these irregu- 
larities, but insisting more particularly on the 


inequality of this six-shilling tax of the con- 
188 | ' 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 18 


stables, respecting the circumstances of those 
who paid it, since a poor widow housekeeper, 
all whose property to be guarded by the watch 
did not perhaps exceed the value of fifty pounds, 
paid as much as the wealthiest merchant, who. 
had thousands of pounds’ worth of goods in his. 
stores. 
On the whole, I proposed as a more effec- 
tual watch, the hiring of proper men to serve 
‘constantly in that business; and as a more 
equitable way of supporting the charge, the 
levying a tax that should be proportion’d to 
the property. This idea, being approv’d by the 
Junto, was communicated to the other clubs,, 
but as arising in each of them; and though the 
plan was not immediately carried into execu- 
tion, yet, by preparing the minds of people 
for the change, it paved the way for the law 
obtained a few years after, when the members. 
of our clubs were grown into more influence. 
About this time I wrote a paper (first to be 
read in Junto, but it was afterward publish’d) 
on the different accidents and carelessnesses by 
which houses were set on fire, with cautions 
against them, and means proposed of avoiding 
them. This was much spoken of as a useful 
piece, and gave rise to a project, which soon 
followed it, of forming a company for the more 


190 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


weady extinguishing of fires, and mutual assist- 
ance in removing and securing of goods when 
in danger. Associates in this scheme were 
presently found, amounting to thirty. Our 
‘articles of agreement oblig’d every member to 
keep always in good order, and fit for use, a 
certain number. of leather buckets, with strong 
bags and baskets (for packing and transport- 
ing of goods), which were to be brought to 
every fire; and we agreed to meet once a month 
and spend a social evening together, in dis- 
coursing and communicating such ideas as 
occurred to us upon the subjects of fires, as 
might be useful in our conduct on such occa- 
sions. | 

The utility of this institution soon appeared, 
and many more desiring to be admitted than 
‘we thought convenient for one company, they 
‘were advised to form another, which was 
accordingly done; and this went on, one new 
company being formed after another, till they 
‘became so numerous as to include most of the 
inhabitants who were men of property; and 
now, at the time of my writing this, tho’ up- 
-ward of fifty years since its establishment, that 
‘which I first formed, called the Union Fire 
Company, still stibsists and flourishes, tho’ the 
‘first members are all deceas’d but myself and 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 101 


one, who is older by a year than I am. The 
small fines that have been paid by members 
for absence at the monthly meetings have been 
apply’d to the purchase of fire-engines, ladders, 
fire-hooks, and other useful implements for 
each company, so that I question whether there 


is a city in the world better provided with the 
means of putting a stop to beginning conflagra- 
tions; and, in fact, since these institutions, the 
city has never lost by fire more than one or two 
houses at a time, and the flames have often 
been extinguished before the house in which 
they began has been half consumed. 

In 1739 arrived among us from Ireland the 
Reverend Mr. Whitefield,* who had made him- 
self remarkable there as an itinerant preacher. 
He was at first permitted to preach in some 


1George Whitefield, pronounced Hwit’field (1714-1770), a cele- 
brated English clergyman and pulpit orator, one of the founders 
of Methodism. 


192 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


of our churches; but the clergy, taking a dis- 


on 


like to him, soon refus’d him their pulpits, and 


he was oblig’d to preach in the fields. The 
multitudes of all sects and denominations that 
attended his sermons were enormous, and it 
was matter of speculation to me, who was one 
of the number, to observe the extraordinary 
influence of his oratory on his hearers, and 
how much they admir’d and respected him, 
notwithstanding his common abuse of them, 


by assuring them they were naturally half beasts — 
and half devils. It was wonderful to see the 
change soon made in the manners of our inhabi- — 
tants. From being thoughtless or indifferent — 


about religion, it seem’d as if all the world were 


growing religious, so that one could not walk — 
thro’ the town in an evening without hearing ~ 
psalms sung in different families of every street. 

And it being found inconvenient to assemble ~ 
in the open air, subject to its inclemencies, the 
building of a house to meet in was no sooner ~ 
propos’d, and persons appointed to receive con- 
tributions, but sufficient sums were soon receiv d — 


to procure the ground and erect the building, 


which was one hundred feet long and seventy 


broad, about the size of Westminster - Hall; * 


1A part of the palace of Westminster, now forming the vesti- 
bule to the Houses of Parliament in London. 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 193 


and the work was carried on with such spirit 
as to be finished in a much shorter time than 
could have been expected. Both house and 
ground were vested in trustees, expressly for 
the use of any preacher of any religious per- 
suasion who might desire to say something to 
the people at Philadelphia; the design in build-. 
ing not being to accommodate any particular 
sect, but the inhabitants in general; so that 
even if the Mufti of Constantinople were to 
send a missionary to preach Mohammedanism 
to us, he would find a pulpit at his service. 

Mr. Whitefield, in leaving us, went preach- 
ing all the, way thro’ the colonies to Georgia. 
The settlement of that province had lately been 
begun, but, instead of being made with hardy, 
industrious husbandmen, accustomed to labour, 
the only people fit for such an enterprise, it 
was with families of broken shop-keepers and 
other insolvent debtors, many of indolent and 
idle habits, taken out of the jails, who, being 
set down in the woods, unqualified for clearing 
land, and unable to endure the hardships of a 
new settlement, perished in numbers, leaving 
many helpless children unprovided for. The 
sight of their miserable situation inspir’d the 
benevolent heart of Mr. Whitefield with the 
idea of building an Orphan House there, in 


194 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


Pts) 
leg 
* i 
: 


which they might be supported and educated. 
Returning northward, he preach’d up this char- — 
ity, and made large collections, for his eloquence ~ 
had a wonderful power over the hearts and © 
purses of his hearers, of witch I myself was 
an instance. 

I did not disapprove of the design, but, as 
Georgia was then destitute of materials and — 
workmen, and it was proposed to send them 
from Philadelphia at a great expense, I thought — 
it would have been better to have built the 
house here, and brought the children to it. 
This I advis’d; but he was resolute in his first 
project, rejected my counsel, and I therefore — 
refus’d to contribute. [I happened soon after — 
to attend one of his sermons, in the course — 
of which I perceived he intended to finish with 
a collection, and I silently resolved he should 
get nothing from me. I had in my pocket a 
handful of copper money, three or four silver 
dollars, and five pistoles in gold. As he pro- — 
ceeded I began to soften, and concluded to give 
the coppers. Another stroke of his oratory. 
made me asham’d of that, and determin’d me 
to give the silver; and he finish’d so admirably, 
that ] empty’d my pocket wholly into the col- 
lector’s dish, gold and all. At this sermon 
there was also one of our club, who, being of 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 1905 


my sentiments respecting the building in 
Georgia, and suspecting a collection might be 
intended, had, by precaution, emptied his pock- 
ets before he came from home. Towards the 
conclusion of the discourse, however, he felt 
a strong desire to give, and apply’d to a neigh- 
bour. who stood near him, to borrow some 
money for the purpose. The application was 
unfortunately [made] to perhaps the only man 
in the company who had the firmness not. to 
be affected by the preacher. His answer was, 
“ At any other time, Friend Hopkinson, I would 
lend to thee freely; but not now, for thee seems 
to be out of thy right senses.” 

Some of Mr. Whitefield’s enemies affected 
to suppose that he would apply these collec- 
tions to his own private emolument; but I, who 
was intimately acquainted with him (being em- 
ployed in printing his Sermons and Journals, 
etc.), never had the least suspicion of his integ- 
rity, but am to this day decidedly of opinion 
that he was in all his conduct a _ perfectly 
honest man; and methinks my testimony in his 
favour ought to have the more weight, as we 
had no religious connection. He us’d, indeed, 
sometimes to pray for my conversion, but 
never had the satisfaction of believing that 
his prayers were heard. Ours was a mere civil 


1906 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


friendship, sincere on both sides, and lasted 
to his death. 

The following instance will show something 
of the terms on which we stood. Upon one 
of his arrivals from England at Boston, he 
wrote to me that he should come soon to 
Philadelphia, but ‘knew not where he could 
lodge when there, as he understood his old 
friend and host, Mr. Benezet was removed to 
Germantown. My answer was, “ You know 
my house; if you can make shift with its scanty 
accommodations, you will be most heartily wel- 
come.” He repby’d, that if I made that kind 
offer for Christ’s sake, I should not miss of a 
reward. And I returned, “ Don’t let me be mis- 
taken; it was not for Christ’s sake, but for your 
sake.’ One of our common acquaintance jo- 
cosely remark’d, that, knowing it to be the 
custom of the saints, when they received any 
favour, to shift the burden of the obligation 
from off their own shoulders, and place it in 
heaven, I had contriv’d to fix it on earth. 

The last time I saw Mr. Whitefield was in 
London, when he consulted me about his Or- 
phan House concern, and his purpose of appro- 
priating it to the establishment of a college. 

He had a loud and clear voice, and articu- 
lated his words and sentences so perfectly, that 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 197 


he might be heard and understood at a great 
distance, especially as his auditories, however 
numerous, observ’d the most exact silence. He 
preach’d one evening from the top of the Court- 
house steps, which are in the middle of Market- 
street, and on the west side of Second-street, 
which crosses it at right angles. Both streets 
were fill’d with his hearers to a considerable 
distance. Being among the hindmost in Mar- 
ket-street, I had the curiosity to learn how 
far he could be heard, by retiring backwards | 
down the street towards the river; and I found 
his voice distinct till I came near Front-street, 
when some noise in that street obscur’d it. 
Imagining then a semicircle, of which my dis- 
tance should be the radius, and that it were 
fill’d with auditors, to each of whom I allow’d 
‘two square feet, I computed that he might 
well be heard by more than thirty thousand. 
This reconcil’d me to the newspaper accounts 
of his having preach’d to twenty-five thousand 
people in the fields, and to the antient histories 
of generals haranguing whole armies, of which 
{ had sometimes doubted. 

By hearing him often, I came to distinguish 
easily between sermons newly compos’d, and 
those which he had often preach’d in the course 
of his travels. His delivery of the latter was 


1988 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


so improv’d by frequent repetitions that every ~ 


accent, every emphasis, every modulation of 
voice, was so perfectly well turn’d and well 
plac’d, that, without being interested in the 
subject, one could not help being pleas’d with 
the discourse; a pleasure of much the same 
kind with that receiv’d from an excellent piece 
of musick. This is an advantage itinerant 
preachers have over those who are stationary, 


as the latter cannot well improve their delivery’ 


of a sermon by so many rehearsals. 

His writing and printing from time to time 
gave great advantage to his enemies; un- 
guarded expressions, and even erroneous opin- 
ions, delivered in preaching, might have been 
afterwards explain’d or qualifiid by supposing 
others that might have accompani’d them, or 
they might have been deny’d; but litera scripta 
manet. Critics attack’d his writings violently, 
and with so much appearance of reason as to 
diminish the number of his votaries and pre- 
vent their increase; so that I am of opinion 


if he had never written anything, he would have © 
left behind him a much more numerous and 


important sect, and his reputation might in 
that case have been still growing, even after 
his death, as there being nothing of his writing 
on which to found a censure and give him a 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 199 


lower character, his proselytes would be left 
at liberty to feign for him as great a variety 
of excellences as their enthusiastic admiration 
might wish him to have possessed. 

My business was now continually augment- 
ing, and my circumstances growing daily easier, 
my newspaper having become very profitable, 
as being for a time almost the only one in this 
and the neighbouring provinces. I experienced, 
too, the truth of the observation, “ that after 
getting the first hundred pound, it 1s more easy 
to get the second,’ money itself being of a pro- 
lific nature. | 

The partnership at Carolina having suc- 
ceeded, I was encourag’d to engage in others, 
and to promote several of my workmen, who 
had behaved well, by establishing them with 
printing-houses in different colonies, on the 
same terms with that in Carolina. Most of 
them did well, being enabled at the end of 
our term, six years, to purchase the types of 
me and go on working for themselves, by which 
means several families were raised. Partner- 
ships often finish in quarrels; but I was happy 
in this, that mine were all carried on and ended 
amicably, owing, I think, a good deal to the 
precaution of having very explicitly settled, in 
our articles, everything to be done by or ex- 


200 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


pected from each partner, so that there was 
nothing to dispute, which precaution I would 
therefore recommend to all who enter into part- 
nerships; for, whatever esteem partners may 
have for, and confidence in each other at the 
time of the contract, little jealousies and dis- 
gusts may arise, with ideas of inequality in 
the care and burden of the business, etc., which 
are attended often with breach of friendship 
and of the connection, perhaps with lawsuits 
and other disagreeable consequences. 


XII 


DERN S EiORo DH PROVINCE 


HAD, on the whole, abundant rea- 
son to be satisfied with my being 
established in Pennsylvania. ‘There 
-were, however, two, things that I 
regretted, there being no provision for defense, 
nor for a compleat education of youth; no 
militia, nor any college. I therefore, in 1743, 
drew up a proposal for establishing an academy ; 
and at that time, thinking the Reverend Mr. 
Peters, who was out of employ, a fit person 
to superintend such an institution, ] communi- 
cated the project to him; but he, having more 
profitable views in the service of the proprie- 
taries, which succeeded, declin’d the undertak- 
ing; and, not knowing another at that time 
suitable for such a trust, I let the scheme lie 
awhile dormant. I succeeded better the next 
year, 1744, in proposing and establishing a 
Philosophical Society. The paper I wrote for 
that purpose will be found among my writings, 
when collected. 
With respect to defense, Spain. having been 
201 


202 FRANKLIN'S AUTOBIOGRAQi 


several years at war against Great Britain, and 
being at length join’d by France, which brought 
us into great danger; and the laboured and 
long-continued endeavour of our governor, 
Thomas, to prevail with our Quaker Assembly 
to pass a militia law, and make other pro- 
visions for the security of the province, having 
proved abortive, I determined to try what might 
be done by a voluntary association of the 
people. To promote this, I first wrote and 


/ published a pamphlet, entitled PLAIN TRUTH, 
_ in which I stated our defenceless situation in 
\strong lights, with the necessity of union and 
‘discipline for our defense, and promis’d to pro- 
| / pose ina few days an association, to be generally 
(4 signed for that purpose. The pamphlet had a 


sudden and surprising effect. I was call’d upon 
for the instrument of association, and having 
settled the draft of it with a few friends, I ap- 
pointed a meeting of the citizens in the large 
building before mentioned. The house was pretty 
full; I had prepared a number of printed copies, 
and provided pens and ink dispers’d all over 
the room. I harangued them a little on the 
subject, read the paper, and explained it, and 
then distributed the copies, which were eagerly 
signed, not the least objection being made. 
When the company separated, and the papers 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 203 


were collected, we found above twelve hun- 
dred hands; and, other copies being dispersed 
in the country, the subscribers amounted at 
length to upward of ten thousand. These all 
furnished themselves as soon as they could 
with arms, formed themselves into companies 


One of the flags of the Pennsylvania Association, 1747. Designed 
by Franklin and made by the women of Philadelphia. 

and regiments, chose their own officers, and met 
every week to be instructed in the manual ex- 
ercise, and other parts of military discipline. 
The women, by subscriptions among them- 
selves, provided silk colours, which they pre- 
sented to the companies, painted with differ- 
ent devices and mottos, which I supplied. ia 

The officers of the companfes composing the 
Philadelphia regiment, being met, chose me 
for their colonel; but, conceiving myself unfit, 


204 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


I declin’d that station, and recommended Mr, 
Lawrence, a fine person, and man of influence, 
who was accordingly appointed. I then pro- 
pos’d a lottery to defray the expense of build- 
ing a battery below the town, and furnishing 
it with cannon. It filled expeditiously, and the 
battery was soon erected, the merlons being 
fram’d of logs and fill’d with earth. We bought 
some old cannon from Boston, but, these not 
being sufficient, we wrote to England for more, 
soliciting, at the same time, our proprietaries 
for some assistance, tho’ without much expecta- 
tion of obtaining” it. 

Meanwhile, Colonel Lawrence, William Allen, 
Abram Taylor, Esqr., and myself were sent to 
New York by the associators, commission’d to 
borrow some cannon of Governor Clinton. He 
at first refus’d us peremptorily; but at dinner 
with his council, where there was great. drink- 
ing of Madeira wine, as the custom of that 
place then was, he softened by degrees, and 
said he would lend us six. After a few more 
bumpers he advanc’d to ten; and at length 
he very good-naturedly conceded eighteen. 
They were fine cannon, eighteen-pounders, with 
their carriages, which we soon transported and 
mounted on our battery, where the associators 
kept a nightly guard while the war lasted, and 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 205. 


among the rest I regularly took my turn of 
duty there as a common soldier. 

My activity in these operations was agree- 
able to the governor and council; they took 
me into confidence, and I was consulted by 
them in every measure wherein their concur- 
rence was thought useful to the association. 
Calling in the aid of religion, I propos’d to 

them the proclaiming a fast, to promote ref- 
_ormation, and implore the blessing of Heaven 
on our undertaking. They embrac’d the mo- 
tion; but, as it was the first fast ever thought 
of in the province, the secretary had no prece- 
dent from which to draw the proclamation. My 
education in New England, where a fast is 
proclaimed every year, was here of some ad- 
vantage: I drew it in the accustomed stile, it 
was translated into German,’ printed in both lan- 
guages, and divulg’d thro’ the province. This 
gave the clergy of the different sects an oppor- 
tunity of influencing their congregations to 
join in the association, and it would probably 
have been general among all but Quakers if 
the peace had not soon interven’d. 

It was thought by some of my friends that, 


1Wm. Penn’s agents sought recruits for the colony of Penn- 
sylvania in the low countries of Germany, and there are still in 
eastern Pennsylvania many Germans, inaccurately called Penn- 
sylvania Dutch. Many of them use a Germanized English. 


206 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


by my activity in these affairs, I should offend 
that sect, and thereby lose my interest in the 
Assembly of the province, where they formed 
a great majority. A young gentleman who had 
likewise some friends in the House, and wished 
to succeed me as their clerk, acquainted me 
that it was decided to displace me at the next 
election; and he, therefore, in good will, ad- 
vis'd me to resign, as more consistent with my 
honour than being turn’d out. My answer to 
him was, that I had read or heard of some 
public man who made it a rule never to ask 
for an office, and never to refuse one when 
offer’d to him. “1 approve,” says) 7 of ie 
rule, and will practice it with a small addition; 
I shall never ask, never refuse, nor ever resign 
an office. If they will have my office of clerk 
to dispose of to another, they shall take it from 
me. I will not, by giving it up, lose my right 
of some time or other making reprisals on my 
adversaries.” J heard, however, no more of 
this; I was chosen again unanimously as usual 
at the next election. Possibly, as they dislik’d 
my late intimacy with the members of council, 
who had join’d the governors in all the dis- 
putes about military preparations, with which 
the House had long been harass’d, they might 
have been pleas’d if I would voluntarily have 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 207 


left them; but they did not care to displace me 
on account merely of my zeal for the associa- 
tion, and they could not well give another 
reason. 

Indeed I had some cause to believe that the 
defense of the country was not disagreeable 
to any of them, provided they were not re- 
quir’d to assist in it. And I found that a much 
greater number of them than I could have 
imagined, tho’ against offensive war, were 
clearly for the defensive. Many pamphlets 
pro and con were publish’d on the subject, and 
some by good Quakers, in favour of defense, 
which I believe convince ed most of their younger 
people. : 

A transaction in our fire company gave me 
some insight into their prevailing sentiments. 
It had been propos’d that we should encourage 
the scheme for building a battery by laying 
out the present stock, then about sixty pounds, 
in tickets of the lottery. By our rules, no 
money could be dispos’d of till the next meet- 
ing after the proposal. The company con- 
sisted of thirty members, of which twenty-two 
were Quakers, and eight only of other persua- 
sions. We eight punctually attended the meet- 
ing; but, tho’ we thought that some of the 
Quakers would join us, we were by no means 


208 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


sure of a majority. Only one Quaker, Mr. 
' James Morris, appear’d to oppose the measure. 
He expressed much sorrow that it had ever 
been propos’d, as he said Friends were all 
against it, and it would create such discord 
as might break up the company. We told him 
that we saw no reason for that; we were the 
minority, and if Friends were against the meas- 
ure, and outvoted us,,we must and should, 
agreeably to the usage of all societies, submit. 
When the hour for business arrivd it was 
mov’'d to put the vote; he allowd we might 
then do it by the rules, but, as he could assure 
us that a number of members intended to be 
present for the purpose of opposing it, it would 
be but candid to allow a little time for their 
appearing. ; 

While we were disputing this, a waiter came 
to tell me two gentlemen below desir’d to speak 
with me. I went down, and found they were 
two of our Quaker members. They told me 
there were eight of them assembled at a tavern 
just by; that they were determin’d to come 
and vote with us if there should be occasion, 
which they hop’d would not be the case, and 
desir’d we would not call for their assistance 
if we could do without it, as their voting for 
such a measure might embroil them with their 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 209 


elders and friends. Being thus secure of a 
majority, I went up, and after a little seeming 
hesitation, agreed to a delay of another hour. 
This Mr. Morris allow’d to be extreamly fair. 
Not one of his opposing friends appear’d, at 
which he express’d great surprize; and, at the 
expiration of the hour, we carri’d the resolution 
eight to one; and as, of the twenty-two Quakers, 
eight were ready to vote with us, and thirteen, 
by their absence, manifested that they were 
not inclin’d to oppose the measure, I afterward 
estimated the proportion of Quakers sincerely 
against defense as one to twenty-one only; for 
these were all regular members of that society, 
and in good reputation among them, and had 
due notice of what was propos’d at that 
meeting. 

The honorable and learned Mr. Logan, who 
had always been of that sect, was one who 
wrote an address to them, declaring his appro- 
bation of defensive war, and supporting his 
opinion by many strong arguments. He put 
into my hands sixty pounds to be laid out in 
lottery tickets for the battery, with directions 
to apply what prizes might be drawn wholly 
to that service. He told me the following 
anecdote of his old master, William Penn, re- 
specting defense. He came over from Eng- 


210 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


land, when a young man, with that proprietary, 
and as his secretary. It was war-time, and 
their ship was chas’d by an armed vessel, sup- 
pos’d to be an enemy. Their captain prepar’d’ 
for defense; but told William Penn, and his 
company of Quakers, that he did not expect 
their assistance, and they might retire into the 
cabin, which they did, except James Logan,’ 
who chose to stay upon deck, and was quar- 
ter’'d to a gun. The suppos’d enemy prov’d a 
friend, so there was no fighting; but when the 
secretary went down to communicate the intel-_ 
ligence, William Penn rebuk’d him severely 
for staying upon deck, and undertaking to 
assist in defending the vessel, contrary to the 
principles of Friends, especially as it had not 
been required by the captain. This reproof, 
being before all the company, piqu’d the sec- 
retary, who answer’d, “I being thy servant, 
why did thee not order me to come down? But 
thee was willing enough that I should stay and 
help to fight the ship when thee thought there 
was danger.” 

My being many years in the Assembly, the 
majority of which were constantly Quakers, 


1James Logan (1674-1751) came to America with William Penn 
in 1699, and was the business agent for the Penn family. He be- 
queathed his valuable library, preserved at his country seat, “ ene 
ton,” to the city of Philadelphia —Smyth. 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY $21: 


gave me frequent opportunities of seeing the 
embarrassment given them by their principle 
against war, whenever application was made 
to them, by order of the crown, to grant aids 
for military purposes. They. were unwilling 
to offend government, on the one hand, by a 
direct refusal; and their friends, the body of 
the Quakers, on the other, by compliance con- 
trary to their principles; hence a variety of 
evasions to avoid complying, and modes of 
disguising the compliance when it became un- 
avoidable. The common mode at last was, 
to grant money under the phrase of its being 
“for the king’s use,’ and never to inquire how 
it was applied. 

But, if the demand was not directly from the 
crown, that phrase was found not so proper, 
and some other was to be invented. As, when 
powder was wanting (I think it was for the 
garrison at Louisburg), and the government 
of New England solicited a grant of some from 
Pennsilvania, which was much urg’d on the 
House by Governor Thomas, they could not 
grant money to buy powder, because that was 
an ingredient of war; but they voted an aid 
to New England of three thousand pounds, to 
be put into the hands of the governor, and 
appropriated it for the purchasing of bread, 


212 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


flour, wheat or other grain. Some of the coun- 
cil, desirous of giving the House still further 
embarrassment, advis'd the governor not to 
accept provision, as not being the thing he 
had demanded; but he repli’d, “I shall take the 
money, for I understand very well their mean- 
ing; other grain is gunpowder,” which he ac- 
cordingly bought, and they never objected to it.* 
It was in allusion to this fact that, when in 
our fire company we feared the success of our 
proposal in favour of the lottery, and. I had 
said to my friend Mr. Syng, one of our mem- - 
bers, “If we fail, let us move the purchase of 
a fire-engine with the money; the Quakers can 
have no objection to that; and then, if you 
nominate me and I you as a committee for 
that purpose, we will buy a great gun, which 
is certainly a fire-engine.” “1 see” says ie 
“you have improv’d by being so long in the 
Assembly; your equivocal project would be 
just a match for their wheat or other grain.” 
These embarrassments that the Quakers suf- 
fer’d from having establish’d and published it 
as one of their principles that no kind of war 
was lawful, and which, being once published, 
they could not afterwards, however they might © 
change their minds, easily get rid of, reminds 


1See the votes.—Marg. note. 


* FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 233 


me of what I think a more prudent conduct 
in another sect among us, that of the Dunkers. 
I was acquainted with one of its founders, 
Michael Welfare, soon after it appear’d. He 
complain’d to me that they were grievously 
calumniated by the zealots of other persuasions, 
and charg’d with abominable principles and 
practices to which they were utter strangers. 
I told him this had always been the case with 
new sects, and that, to put a stop to such 
abuse, I imagin’d it might be well to publish 
the articles of their belief, and the rules of 
their discipline. He said that it had been pro- 
pos’d among them, but not agreed to, for this 
reason: ‘‘ When we were first drawn together 
as a society,’ says he, “it had pleased God to 
enlighten our minds so far as to see that some 
doctrines, which we once esteemed truths, were 
errors; and that others, which we had esteemed 
errors, were real truths. From time to time He 
has been pleased to afford us farther light, and 
our principles have been improving, and our er- 
rors diminishing. Now we are not sure that we 
are arrived at the end of this progression, and 
at the perfection of spiritual or theological 
knowledge; and we fear that, if we should once 
print our confession of faith, we should feel 
ourselves as if bound and confin’d by it, and 


214. FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


perhaps be unwilling to receive further im- 
provement, and our successors still more so, as 
conceiving what we their elders and founders 
had done, to be something sacred, never to be 
departed from.” 

This modesty in a sect is perhaps a singular 
instance in the history of mankind, every other 
sect supposing itself in possession of all truth, 
and that those who differ are so far in the 
wrong; like a man traveling in foggy weather, 
those at some distance before him on the road 
he sees wrapped up in the fog, as well as those 
behind him, and also the people in the fields 
on each side, but near him all appears clear, 
tho’ in truth he is as much in the fog as any 
of them. To avoid this kind of embarrass- 
ment, the Quakers have of late years been 
gradually declining the public service in the 
Assembly and in the magistracy, choosing 
rather to quit their power than their principle. 

In order of time, I should have mentioned 
before, that having, in 1742, invented an open 
stove* for the better warming of rooms, and 
at the same time saving fuel, as the fresh air 
admitted was warmed in entering, I made a 
present of the model to Mr. Robert Grace, one 
of my early friends, who, having an iron-fur- 


1The Franklin stove is still in use. 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 215 


nace, found the casting of the plates for these 
stoves a profitable thing, as they were grow- 
ing in demand. To promote that demand, I 
wrote and published a pamphlet, entitled “ dn 
Account of the new-invented Pennsylvania Fire- 
places; wherein their Construction and Manner 
of Operation 1s particularly explained; their Ad- 
vantages above every other Method of warming 
Rooms demonstrated; and all Objections that 
have been raised against the Use of them an- 
swered and obviated,” etc. This pamphlet had 
a good effect. Gov’r. Thomas was so pleas’d 
with the construction of this stove, as described 
in it, that he offered to give me a patent 
for the sole vending of them for a term of 
years; but I declin’d it from a principle which 
has ever weighed with me on such occasions, 
viz., That, as we enjoy great advantages from 
the inventions of others, we should be glad of 
an opportunity to serve others by any invention 
of ours; and this we should do. freely and gen- 
erously. 

An ironmonger in London however, assum- 
ing a good deal of my pamphlet, and work- 
ing it up into his own, and making some small 
changes in the machine, which rather hurt its 


*Warwick Furnace, Chester County, Pennsylvania, across the 
Schuylkill River from Pottstown. 


21 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


operation, got a patent for it there, and made, 
as I was told, a little fortune by it. And this 
is not the only instance of patents taken out 
for my inventions by others, tho’ not always 
with the same success, which I never contested, 
as having no desire of profiting by patents 
myself, and hating disputes. The use of these 
fireplaces in very many houses, both of this 
and the neighbouring colonies, has been, and 
is, a great saving of wood to the inhabitants. 


XITI 


PUBLIC SERVICES AND DUTIES 
(1749-1753) 


wert) KACE being concluded, and the asso- 
ciation business therefore at an end, 
| I turn’d my thoughts again to the 
4} affair of establishing an academy. 
The first step I took was to aSsociate in the design 
a number of active friends, of whom the Junto 
furnished a good part; the next was to write and 
publish a pamphlet, entitled Proposals Relating 
to the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania. 
This I distributed among the principal inhabi- 
tants gratis; and as soon as I could suppose 
their minds a little prepared by the perusal 
of it, I set on foot a subscription for opening 
and supporting an academy; it was to be paid 
in quotas yearly for five years; by so dividing 
it, I judg’d the subscription might be larger, 
and I believe it was so, amounting to no less, 
if I remember right, than five thousand pounds. 

In the introduction to these proposals, I 
stated their publication, not as an act of mine, 


but of some publick-spirited gentlemen, avoid- 
217 


218 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


ing as much as I could, according to my usual 
rule, the presenting myself to the publick as 
the author of any scheme for their benefit. 
The subscribers, to carry the project into 
immediate execution, chose out of their num- 
ber twenty-four trustees, and appointed Mr. 
Francis,’ then attorney-general, and myself to 
draw up constitutions for the government of 
the academy; which being done and signed, a 
house was hired, masters engag’d, and the 
schools opened, I think, in the same year, 1749. 
The scholars increasing fast, the house was 
soon found too small, and we were looking 
out for a piece of ground, properly situated, 
with intention to build, when Providence threw 
into our way a large house ready built, which, 
with a few alterations, might well serve our 
purpose. This was the building before men- 
tioned, erected by the hearers of Mr. Whitefield, 
and was obtained for us in the following manner. 
It is to be noted that the contributions to 
this building being: made by people of differ- 
ent sects, care was taken in the nomination of 
trustees, in whom the building and ground was 
Tench Francis, uncle of Sir Philip Francis, emigrated from 
England to Maryland, and became attorney for Lord Baltimore. 
He removed to Philadelphia and was attorney-general of Penn- 


sylvania from 1741 to 1755. He died in Philadelphia August 16, 
1758.—Smyth. : 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 219 


to be vested, that a predominancy should not 
be given to any sect, lest in time that predomi- 
nancy might be a means of appropriating the 
whole to the use of such sect, contrary to the 
original intention. It was therefore that one 
of each sect was appointed, viz., one Church- 
of-England man, one Presbyterian, one Baptist, 
one Moravian, etc., those, in case of vacancy 
by death, were to fill it by election from among 
the contributors. The Moravian happen’d not 
to please his colleagues, and on his death they 
resolved to have no other of that sect. The 
difficulty then was, how to avoid having two 
of some other sect, by means of the new choice. 

Several persons were named, and for that 
reason not agreed to. At length one men- 
tion’d me, with the observation that I was 
merely an honest man, and of no sect at all, 
which prevailed with them to chuse me. The 
enthusiasm which existed when -the house was 
built had long since abat’d, and its trustees 
had not been able to procure fresh contribu- 
tions for paying the ground-rent, and discharg- 
ing some other debts the building had occa- 
sion’d, which embarrass’d them greatly. Being 
now a member of both seets of trustees, that 
for the building and that for the academy, I 
had a good opportunity of negotiating with 


220 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


both, and brought them finally to an agree- 
ment, by which the trustees for the building 
were to cede it to those of the academy, the 
latter undertaking to discharge the debt, to 
keep forever open in the building a large hall 
for occasional preachers, according to the orig- 
inal intention, and maintain a free-school for 
the instruction of poor children. Writings were 
accordingly drawn, and on paying the debts 
the trustees of the academy were put in posses- 
sion of the premises; and by dividing the great 
and lofty hall into stories, and different rooms 
above and below for the several schools, and 
purchasing some additional: ground, the whole 
was soon made fit for our purpose, and the 
scholars remov’d into the building. The care 
and trouble of agreeing with the workmen, 
purchasing materials, and superintending the 
work, fell upon me; and I went thro’ it the 
more cheerfully, as it did not then ‘mteriere 
with my private business, having the year be- 
fore taken a very able, industrious, and honest 
partner, Mr. David Hall, with whose character 
I was well acquainted, as he had work’d for 
me four years. He took off my hands all care 
of the printing-office, paying me punctually 
my share of the profits. The partnership con- 
tinued eighteen years, successfully for us both. 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 221 


The trustees of the academy, after a while, 
were incorporated by a charter from the gov- 
ernor; their funds were increas’d by contribu- 
tions in Britain and grants of land from the 
proprietaries, to which the Assembly has since 
made considerable addition; and thus was estab- 
lished the present University of Philadelphia.* 
I have been continued one of its trustees from 
the beginning, now near forty years, and have 
had the very great pleasure of seeing a num- 
ber of the youth who have receiv’d their edu- 
cation in it, distinguish’d by their improv’d 
abilities, serviceable in public stations, and or- 
naments to their country. 

When I disengaged myself, as above men- 
tioned, from private business, I flatter’d myself 
that, by the sufficient tho’ moderate fortune I 
had acquir’d, I had secured leisure during the 
rest of my life for philosophical studies and 
amusements. I purchased all Dr. Spence’s ap- 
paratus, who had come from England to lec- 
ture here, and I proceeded in my electrical ex- 
periments with great alacrity; but the publick, 
now considering me as a man of leisure, laid 
hold of me for their purposes, every part of our 
civil government, and almost at the same time, 
imposing some duty upon me. The governor 


1Later called the University of Pennsylvania. 


222 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


put me into the commission of the peace; the 
corporation of the city chose me of the com- 
mon council, and soon after an alderman; and 
the citizens at large chose me a burgess to rep- 
resent them in Assembly. This latter station 
was the more agreeable to me, as I was at 
length tired with sitting there to hear debates, 
in which, as clerk, I could take no part, and 
which were often so unentertaining that I was 
induc’d to amuse myself with making magic 
squares or circles, or anything to avoid weari- 
ness; and I conceiv’d my becoming a member 
would enlarge my power of doing good. f 
would not, however, insinuate that my ambi- 
tion was not flatter’d by all these promotions; 
it certainly was; for, considering my low be- 
ginning, they were great things to me; and they 
were still more pleasing, as being so many 
spontaneous testimonies of the public good 
opinion, and by me entirely unsolicited. 

The office of justice of the peace I try’d a 
little, by attending a few courts, and sitting 
on the bench to hear causes; but finding that 
more knowledge of the common law than I 
possess’'d was necessary to act in that station 
with credit, I gradually withdrew from it, ex-. 
cusing myself by my being oblig’d to attend 
the higher duties of a legislator in the Assem- 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 223 


bly. My election to this trust was repeated 
every year for ten years, without my ever ask- 
ing any elector for his vote, or signifying, either. 
directly or indirectly, any desire of being 
chosen. On taking my seat in the House, my 
son was appointed their clerk. 

The year following, a treaty being to be 
held with the Indians at Carlisle, the governor 
sent a message to the House, proposing that 
they should nominate some of their membefs, 
to be join’d with some members of council, as 
commissioners for that purpose.” The House 
named the speaker (Mr. Norris) and myself; 
and, being commission’d, we went to Carlisle, 
and met the Indians accordingly. 

As those people are extreamly apt to get 
drunk, and, when so, are very quarrelsome and 
disorderly, we strictly forbad the selling any 
liquor to them; and when they complain’d of 
this restriction, we told them that if they would 
continue sober during the treaty, we would 
give them plenty of rum when business was 
over. They promis’d this, and they kept their 
promise, because they could get no liquor, and 
the treaty was conducted very orderly, and 
concluded to mutual satisfaction. They then 
claim’d and receiv’d the rum; this was in the 


* See the votes to have this more correctly —Marg. note. 


aad FRANK EEN . AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


afternoon: they were near one hundred men, 
women, and children, and were lodg’d in tem- 
porary cabins, built in the form of a square, 
just without the town. In the evening, hear- 
ing a great noise among them, the commis- 
sioners walk’d out to see what was the matter. 
‘We found they had made a great bonfire in 
the middle of the square; they were all drunk, 
men and women, quarreling and fighting. Their 
dark-colour’d bodies, half naked, seen only by > 
the gloomy light of the bonfire, running after 
and beating one another with firebrands, accom- 
panied by their horrid yellings, form’d a scene 
the most resembling our ideas of hell that 
could well be imagin’d; there was no appeasing 
the tumult, and we retired to our lodging. At 
midnight a number of them carne thundering 
at our door, demanding. more rum, of which 
we took no notice. 

The next day, sensible they had misbehav’d ° 
in giving us that disturbance, they sent three 
of their old counselors to make their apology. 
The orator acknowledg’d the fault, but laid it 
upon the rum; and then endeavoured to ex-— 
cuse the rum by saying, “ The Great Spirit, 
who made all things, made everything for some 
use, and whatever use he design’d anything for, 
that use it should always be put to. Now, when 


FRANKLIN’S. AUTOBIOGRAPHY 225 


he made rum, he said, ‘Let this be for the 
Indians’ to get drunk with, and it must be so.’ 
And, indeed, if it be the design of Providence 
to extirpate these savages in order to make 
room for cultivators of the earth, it seems not 
improbable that rum may be the appointed 
means. It has already annihilated all the 
tribes who formerly inhabited the sea-coast. 

iner75i, Dr; Thomas Bond, a particular friend 
of mine, conceived the idea of establishing a 
hospital in Philadelphia (a very beneficent de- 
sign, which has been ascrib’d to me, but was orig- 
inally his), for the reception and cure of poor 
sick persons, whether inhabitants of the prov- 
ince or strangers. He was zealous and active 
in endeavouring to procure subscriptions for 
it, but the proposal being a novelty in America, 
and at first not well understood, he met but 
with small success. 

At length he came to me with the compli- 
ment that he found there was no such thing 
as carrying a public-spirited project through 
without my being concern’d in it. “ For,” says 
he, “I am often ask’d by those to whom I pro- 
pose subscribing, Have you consulted Frank- 
lin upon this business? And what does he 
think of it? And when I tell them that I have 
not (supposing it rather out of your line), 


226 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


they do not subscribe, but say they will con- 
sider of it.” I enquired into the nature and prob- 
able utility of his scheme, and receiving from 
him a very satisfactory explanation, I not only 
subscrib’d to it myself, but engag’d heartily 
in the design of procuring subscriptions from 
others. Previously, however, to the solicita- 
tion, I endeavoured to prepare the minds of 
the people by writing on the subject in the 
newspapers, which was my usual custom in 
such cases, but which he had omitted. 
The subscriptions afterwards were more free 
and generous; but, beginning to flag, I saw 
they would be insufficient without some assist- 
ance from the Assembly, and therefore propos’d 
to petition for it, which was done. The coun- 
try members did not at first relish the project; — 
they objected that it could only be serviceable 
to the city, and therefore the citizens alone 
should be at the expense of it; and they doubted 
whether the citizens themselves generally ap- 
prov d of it. My allegation on the contrary, 
that it met with such approbation as to leave 
no doubt of our being able to raise two thousand 
pounds by voluntary donations, they consid- 
ered as a most extravagant supposition, and 
utterly impossible. 

On this I form’d my plan; and, asking leave 


Ty 


f 
{ 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 227 


to bring in a bill for incorporating the con- 
tributors according to the prayer of their peti- 
tion, and granting them a blank sum of money, 
which leave was obtained chiefly on the con- 
sideration that the House could throw the bill 
out if they did not like it, I drew it so as to 
make the important clause a conditional one, 
viz., ““ And be it enacted, by the authority afore- 
said, that when the said contributors shall have 
met and chosen their managers and treasurer, 
and shall have raised by their contributions a 
capital stock of value (the yearly interest 
of which is to be applied to the accommodating 
of the sick poor in the said hospital, free of 
charge for diet, attendance, advice, and medi- 
cines), and shall make the same appear to the 
satisfaction of the speaker of the Assembly for 
the time being, that then it shall and may be 
lawful for the said speaker, and he is hereby 
required, to sign an order on the provincial 
treasurer for the payment of two thousand 
pounds, in two yearly payments, to the treas- 
urer of the said hospital, to be applied to the 
founding, building, and finishing of the same.” 

This condition carried the bill through; for 
the members, who had oppos’d the grant, and 
now conceiv’d they might have the credit of 
being charitable without the expense, agreed to 


228 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 47 


its passage; and then, in soliciting subscrip- 
tions among the people, we urg’d the conditi- 
tional promise of the law as an additional 
motive to give, since every man’s donation 
would be doubled; thus the clause work’d both 
ways. The subscriptions accordingly soon ex- 
ceeded the requisite sum, and we claim’d and 
receiv’d the public gift, which enabled us to 
carry the design into execution. A convenient 
and handsome building was soon erected; the 
institution has by constant experience been 
found useful, and flourishes to this day; and I 
do mot. remember any of tly) pois 
manceuvers, the success of which gave me at 
the time more pleasure, or wherein, after think- 


“4 
9 


/ 


ing of it, I more easily excus’d myself for having © 


made some use of cunning. 

It was about this time that another pro- 
jector, the Rev. Gilbert Tennent,’ came to me 
with a request that I would assist him in pro- 
curing a subscription for erecting a new meet- 
ing-house. It was to be for the use of a con- 
gregation he had gathered among the Presby- 
terians, who were originally disciples of Mr. 
Whitefield. Unwilling to make myself dis- 

1 Gilbert Tennent (1703-1764) came to America with his father, 


Rev. William Tennent, and taught for a time in the “Log Col- 
lege,’ from which sprang the College of New Jersey——Smyth. 


i 
FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 229 


agreeable to my fellow-citizens by too fre- 
quently soliciting their contributions, I abso- 
lutely refus’d. He then desired I would furnish 
him with a list of the names of persons I knew 
by experience to be generous and: public-spir- 
ited. I thought it would be unbecoming in 
me, after their kind compliance with my solici- 
tations, to mark them out to be worried by 
other beggars, and therefore refus’d also to 
give such a list. He then desir’d I would at 
least give him my advice. “ That I will readily 
Go, said LT} ‘and, in. the: first, place, 1 advise 
you to apply to all those whom you know will 
give something; next, to those whom you are © 
uncertain whether they will give anything or 
not, and show them the list of those who have 
given; and, lastly, do not neglect those who. 
you are sure will give nothing, for in some of 
them you may be mistaken.” He laugh’d and 
thank’d me, and said he would take my advice. 
He did so, for he ask’d of everybody, and he 
obtain’d a much larger sum than he expected, 
with which he erected the capacious and very 
elegant meeting-house that stands in Arch- 
street. i 

Our city, tho’ laid out with a beautifull regu- 
larity, the streets large, straight, and crossing 
each other at right angles, had the disgrace 


230 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


of suffering those streets to remain long un- 
pav’d, and in wet weather the wheels of heavy 
carriages plough’d them into a quagmire, so 
that it was difficult to cross them; and in dry 
weather the dust was offensive. I had liv’d 
near what was call’d the Jersey Market, and 
saw with pain the inhabitants wading in mud 
while purchasing their provisions. A strip of 
ground down the middle of that market was at 
length pav’d with brick, so that, being once in 
the market, they had firm footing, but were 
often over shoes in dirt to get there. By talk- 
ing and writing on the subject, I was at length 
instrumental in getting the street pav’d with 
stone between the market and the brick’d foot- 
pavement, that was on each side next the 
houses. This, for some time, gave an easy 
access to the market dry-shod; but, the rest of 
the street not being pav’d, whenever a carriage 
came out of the mud upon this pavement, it 
shook off and left its dirt upon it, and it was 
soon coverd with mire, which was not re- 
mov’d, the city as yet having no scavengers. 
After some inquiry, I found a poor, industri- 
ous man, who was willing to undertake keeping 
the pavement clean, by sweeping it twice a 
week, carrying off the dirt from before all the 
neighbours’ doors, for the sum of sixpence per 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 231 


month, to be paid by each house. I then wrote 
and printed a paper setting forth the advan- 
tages to the neighbourhood that might be ob- 
tain’d by this small expense; the greater ease 
in keeping our houses clean, so much dirt not 
being brought in by people’s feet; the benefit 
to the shops by more custom, etc., etc., as buy- 
ers could more easily get at them; and by not 
having, in windy weather, the dust blown in 
upon their goods, etc., etc. I sent one of these 
papers to each house, and in a day or two 
went round to see who would subscribe an 
agreement to pay these sixpences; it was unani- 
mously sign’d, and for a time well executed. 
All the inhabitants of the city were delighted 
with the cleanliness of the pavement that sur- 
rounded the market, it being a convenience to 
all, and this rais’d a general desire to have all 
the streets paved, and made the people more 
willing to submit to a tax for that pur- 
pose. 

After some time I drew a bill for paving 
the city, and brought it into the Assembly. It 
was just before I went to England, in 1757, 
and did not pass till I was gone,’ and then with 
an alteration in the mode of assessment, which 
I thought not for the better, but with an addi- 


1 See votes. “4 


232 FRANKUIN’S AUTOBIOGERAPAY 


tional provision for lighting as well as paving — 
the streets, which was a great improvement. 
It was by a private person, the late Mr. John 
Clifton, his giving a sample of the utility of 
lamps, by placing one at his door, that the 
people were first impress’d with the idea of en- 
lighting all the city. The honour of this public 
benefit has also been ascrib’d to me, but it 
belongs truly to that gentleman. I did but 
follow his example, and have only some merit 
to claim respecting the form of our lamps, as 
differing from the globe lamps we were at first 
supply’d with from London. Those we found 
inconvenient in these respects: they admitted - 
no air below; the smoke, therefore, did not 
readily go out above, but circulated in the globe, 
lodg’d on its inside, and soon obstructed the 
light they were intended to afford; giving, be- 
sides, the daily trouble of wiping them clean; 
and an accidental stroke on one of them would 
demolish it, and render it. totally useless. I 
therefore suggested the composing them of four 
flat panes, with a long funnel above to draw 
up the smoke, and crevices admitting air below, 
to facilitate the ascent of the smoke; by this 
means they were kept clean, and did not grow 
dark in a few hours, as the London lamps do, 
but continu’d bright till morning, and an acci- 


FRANKLIN: SAUTOBUOGRAPHY 233 


dental stroke would generally break but a single 
pane, easily repair’d. 

I have sometimes wonder’d that the London- 
ers did not, from the effect holes in the bottom 
of the globe lamps us’d at Vauxhall’ have in 
keeping them clean, learn to have such holes 
in their street lamps. But, these holes being 
made for another purpose, viz., to communicate 
flame more suddenly to the wick by a little flax 
hanging down thro’ them, the other use, of 
letting in air, seems not to have been thought 
of; and therefore, after the lamps have been 
lit a few hours, the streets of London are very 
poorly illuminated. 

The mention of these improvements puts me 
in mind of one I propos’d, when in London, to 
Dr. Fothergill, who was among the best men 
I have known, and a great promoter of useful 
projects. I had observ’d that the streets, when 
dry, were never swept, and the light dust carried 
away; but it was suffer’d to accumulate till wet 
weather reduc’d it to mud, and then, after lying 
some days so deep on the pavement that there 


1 Vauxhall Gardens, once a popular and fashionable London 
resort, situated on the Thames above Lambeth. The Gardens were 
closed in 1859, but they will always be remembered because of 
Sir Roger de Coverley’s visit to them in the Spectator and from 
the descriptions in Smollett’s Humphry Clinker and Thackeray’s 
Vanity Fair. 


\ 


234 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


was no crossing but in paths kept clean by poor 
people with brooms, it was with great labour 
rak’d together and thrown up into carts open 
above, the sides of which suffer’d some of the 
slush at every jolt on the pavement to shake 
out and fall, sometimes to the annoyance of 
foot-passengers. The reason given for not 


sweeping the dusty streets was that the dust 
would fly into the windows of shops and houses. 

An accidental occurrence had instructed me 
how much sweeping might be done in a little 
time. J found at my door in Craven-street,” 
one morning, a poor woman sweeping my pave- 
ment with a birch broom; she appeared very 
pale and feeble, as just come out of a fit of 
sickness. I ask’d who employ’d her to sweep 
there; she said, “ Nobody, but I am very poor 


2A short street near Charing Cross, London. 


a 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 235 


and in distress, and I sweeps before gentle- 
folkses doors, and hopes they will give me 
something.” I bid her sweep the whole street 
clean, and I would give her a shilling; this was 
at nine o’clock; at 12 she came for the shilling. 
From the slowness I saw at first in her work- 
ing, I could scarce believe that the work was 
done so soon, and sent my servant to examine 
it, who reported that the whole street was 
swept perfectly clean, and all the dust plac’d 
in the gutter, which was in the middle; and 
the next rain wash’d it quite away, so that the 
pavement and even the kennel were perfectly 
clean. ; 

I then judg’d that, if that feeble woman could 
sweep such a street in three hours, a strong, 
active man might have done it in half the time. 
And here let me remark the convenience of hav- 
ing but one gutter in such a narrow street, 
running down its middle, instead of two, one 
on each side, near the footway; for where all 
the rain that falls on a street runs from the 
sides and meets in the middle, it forms there a 
current strong enough to wash away all the 
mud it meets with; but when divided into two 
channels, it is often too weak to cleanse either, 
and only makes the mud it finds more fluid, so 
that the wheels of carriages and feet of horses 


236 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


throw and dash it upon the foot-pavement, 
which is thereby rendered foul and slippery, 
and sometimes splash it upon those who are 
walking. My proposal, communicated to the 
good doctor, was as follows: - 

“For the more effectual cleaning and keep- 
ing clean the streets of London and West- 
minster, it is proposed that the several watch- 
men be contracted with to have the dust swept 
up in dry seasons, and the mud rak’d up at 
other times, each in the several streets and 
lanes of his round; that they be furnish’d with 
brooms and other proper instruments for these 
purposes, to be kept at their respective stands, 
ready to furnish the poor people they may em- 
ploy in the service. 

“That in the dry summer months the dust 
be all swept up into heaps at proper distances, 
before the shops and windows of houses are 
usually opened, when the scavengers, with 
close-covered carts, shall also carry it all away. 

“That the mud, when rak’d up, be not left 
in heaps to be spread abroad again by the 
wheels of carriages and trampling of horses, 
but that the scavengers be provided with bodies 
of carts, not plac’d high upon wheels, but low 
upon sliders, with lattice bottoms, which, being 
cover'd with straw, will retain the mud thrown 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY § 237 


into them, and permit the water to drain from 
it, whereby it will become much lighter, water 
making the greatest part of its weight; these 
bodies of carts to be plac’d at convenient dis- 
_ tances, and the mud brought to them in wheel- 
barrows; they remaining where plac’d till the 
mud is Grama and then horses brought to draw 
them -away.”’ 

I have since had doubts of the peactieanitts 
of the latter part of this proposal, on account 
of the narrowness of some streets, and the diff- 
culty of placing the draining-sleds so as not to 
encumber too much the passage; but I am still 
of opinion that the former, requiring the dust 
to be swept up and carry’d away before the 
shops are open, is very practicable in the sum- 
mer, when the days are long; for, in walking 
thro’ the Strand and Fleet-street one morning 
at seven o'clock, I observ’d there was not one 
shop open, tho’ it had been daylight and the 
sun up above three hours; the inhabitants of 
London chusing voluntarily to live much by 
_candle-light, and sleep by sunshine, and yet 
often complain, a little absurdly, of the duty 
on candles, and the high price of tallow. 

Some may think these trifling matters not 
worth minding or relating; but when they con- 
sider that tho’ dust blown into the eyes of a 


238 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


single person, or into a single shop on a windy 
day, is but of small importance, yet the great 
number of the instances in a populous city, and 
its frequent repetitions give it weight and con- 
sequence, perhaps they will not censure very 
severely those who bestow some attention to 
affairs of this seemingly low nature. Human 
felicity is produc’d not so much by great pieces 
of good fortune that seldom happen, as by 
little advantages that occur every day. Thus, 
if you teach a poor young man to shave him- 
self, and keep his razor in order, you may con- 
tribute more to the happiness of his life than — 
in giving him a thousand guineas. The money 
may be soon spent, the regret only remaining 
of having foolishly consumed it; but in the other 
ease, he escapes the frequent vexation of wait- 
ing for barbers, and of their sometimes dirty 
fingers, offensive breaths, and dull razors; he 
shaves when most convenient to him, and en- 
joys daily the pleasure of its being done with a 
good instrument. With these sentiments I have 
hazarded the few preceding pages, hoping 
they may afford hints which some time or other 
may be useful to a city I love, having lived many 
years in it very happily, and perhaps to some of 
our towns in America. | 

Having been for some time employed by the 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 239 


postmaster-general of America as his comp- 
troller in regulating several offices, and bring- 
ing the officers to account, I was, upon his 
death in 1753, appointed, jointly with Mr. 
William Hunter, to succeed him, by a commis- 
sion from the postmaster-general in England. 
The American office never had hitherto paid 
anything to that of Britain. We were to have 
six hundred pounds a year between us, if we 
could make that sum out of the profits of the 
office. To do this, a variety of improvements 
were necessary; some of these were inevitably 
at first expensive, so that in the first four years 
the office became above nine hundred pounds 
in debt to us. But it soon after began to repay 
us; and before I was displac’d by a freak of the 
ministers, of which I shall speak hereafter, we 
had brought it to yield, three times as much_ 
clear revenue to the crown as the post- 
office of Ireland. Since that imprudent trans- 
‘action, they have receiv’d from it—not one 
farthing! 

The business of the postoffice occaston’d my 
taking a journey this year to New England, 
where the College of Cambridge, of their own 
motion, presented me with the degree of Mas- 
ter of Arts. Yale College, in Connecticut, had 
before made me a similar compliment. Thus, 


240 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


without studying in any college, I came to par- 
take of their honours. They were conferr’d 
in consideration of my improvements and 
discoveries in the electric branch of natural 
philosophy. 


XIV 


ALBANY PLAN OF UNION 


ASTIN 1754, war with France being again 
Gil apprehended, a congress of com- 
| missioners from the different col- 
224} onies was, by an order of the Lords 
of Trade, to be assembled at Albany, there to 
confer with the chiefs of the Six Nations con- 
cerning the means of defending both their 
country and ours. Governor Hamilton, hav- 
ing receiv’d this order, acquainted the House 
with it, requesting they would furnish proper 
presents for the Indians, to be given on this 
occasion; and naming the speaker (Mr. Norris) 
and myself to join Mr. Thomas Penn and Mr. 
Secretary Peters as commissioners to act for 
Pennsylvania. The House approv’d the nom- 
ination, and provided the goods for the present, 
and tho’ they did not much like treating out 
of the provinces; and’: we met the other com- 
‘missioners at Albany about the middle of June. 

In our way thither, I projected and drew a 
plan for the union of all the colonies under one 


government, so far as might be necessary for 
241 


242 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


defense, and other important general purposes. 
As we pass’d thro’ New York, I had there 
shown my project to Mr. James Alexander and 
Mr. Kennedy, two gentlemen of great knowledge 
in public affairs, and, being fortified by their 
approbation, I ventur’d to lay it before the Con- 
gress. It then appeared that several of the 
commissioners had form’d plans of the same 


fe) Fy ; | 
J O I N, or D ] EK. 4 


kind. A previous question was first taken, 
whether a union should be established, which 
pass’'d in the affirmative unanimously. A com- 
mittee was, then appointed, one member from 
each colony, to consider the several plans and 
report. Mine happen’d to be preferr’d, and, 
with a few amendments, was accordingly re- 
ported.- 

By this plan the general government was to 
be administered by a _ president-general, ap- 
pointed and supported by the crown, and a 
grand council was to be chosen by the repre- 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 243 


sentatives of the people of the several colonies, 
met in their respective assemblies. The debates 
upon it in Congress went on daily, hand in 
hand with the Indian business. Many objec- 
tions and difficulties were started, but at length 
they were all overcome, and the plan was unani- 
mously agreed to, and copies ordered to be 
transmitted to the Board of Trade and to the 
assemblies of the several provinces. Its fate 
was singular; the assemblies did not adopt it, 
as they all thought there was too much fpre-— 
rogative in it, and in England it was judg’d 
to have too much of the democratic. The Board 
of Trade therefore did not approve of it, nor 
recommend it for the approbation of his 
majesty; but another scheme was form’d, sup- . 
posed to answer the same purpose better, 
whereby the governors of the provinces, with 
some members of their respective councils, were 
to meet and order the raising of troops, build- 
ing of forts, etc., and to draw on the treasury 
of Great Britain for the expense, which was 
afterwards to be refunded by an act of Parlia- 
ment laying a tax on America. My plan, with 
my reasons in support of it, is to be found 
among my political papers that are printed. 
Being the winter following in Boston, I had 
much conversation with Governor Shirley upon 


244 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


both the plans. Part of what passed between 
us on the occasion may also be seen among 
those papers. The different and contrary rea- 
sons of dislike to my plan makes me suspect 
that it was really the true medium; and I am 
still of opinion it would have been happy for 
both sides the water if it had been adopted. 
The colonies, so united, would have been suffi- 
ciently strong to have defended themselves; 
there would then have been no need of troops 
from England; of course, the subsequent pre- 
tence for taxing America, and the bloody con- 
test it occasioned, would have been avoided. 
But such mistakes are not new; history is full 
of the errors of states and princes. 


“ Look round the habitable world, how few 
Know their own good, or, knowing it, pursue! ” 


Those who govern, having much business on 


their hands, do not generally like to take the - 


trouble of considering and carrying into execu- 
tion new projects. The best public measures 
are therefore seldom adopted from Pravies 
wisdom, but forc’d by the occasion. 

The Governor of Pennsylvania, in sending 
it down to the Assembly, express’d his appro- 
bation of the plan, “as appearing to him to be 
drawn up with great clearness and strength of 


-FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 245 


judgment, and therefore recommended it as 
well worthy of their closest and most serious 
attention.” The House, however, by the man- 
agement of a certain member, took it up when 
I happen’ to be absent, which I thought not 
very fair, and reprobated it without paying 
any attention to it at all, to my no small morti- 
fication. 


XV 


QUARRELS WITH THE PROPRIETARY 
GOVERNORS 


A SVN my journey to Boston this year, 
yn I met at New York with our new 
sA\i governor, Mr. Morris, just arriv’d 
f#A\ there from England, with whom 

I had been before intimately acquainted. He 
brought a commission to supersede Mr. Ham- 
ilton, who, tir’d with the disputes his propri- 
etary instructions subjected him to, had re- 
sign’d. Mr. Morris ask’d me if | thought he 
must expect as uncomfortable an administra- 
tion. I said, “ No; you may, on the contrary, © 
have a very comfortable one, if you will only take 
care not to enter into any dispute with the 
Assembly.” “ My dear friend,” says he, pleas- 
antly, “how can you advise my- avoiding dis- 
putes? You know I love disputing; it is one 
of my greatest pleasures; however, to show the 
regard I have for your counsel, I promise you 
I will, if possible, avoid them.” He had some 
reason for loving to dispute, being eloquent, 


an acute sophister, and, therefore, generally suc- 
246 vk 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 247 


cessful in argumentative conversation. He had 
been brought up to it from a boy, his father, 
as I have heard, accustoming his children to 
dispute with one another for his diversion, while 
sitting at table after dinner; but I think the 
practice was not wise; for, in the course of my 
observation, these disputing, contradicting, and 
confuting people are generally unfortunate in 
their affairs.- They get victory sometimes, but 
they never get good will, which would be of 
more use to them. We parted, he going to 
Philadelphia, and I to Boston. 

In returning, | met at New York with the 
votes of the Assembly, by which it appear’d 
that, notwithstanding his promise to me, he 
and the House were already in high contention; 
and it was a continual battle between them as 
long as he retain’d the government. I had my 
share of it; for, as soon as I got back to my 
seat in the Assembly, I was put on every com- 
mittee for answering his speeches and messages, 
and by the committees always desired to make 
the drafts. Our answers, as well as his mes- 
sages, were often tart, and sometimes indecently 
abusive; and, as he knew I wrote for the As- 
sembly, one might have imagined that, when 
we met, we could hardly avoid cutting throats; 
but he was so good-natur’d a man that no per- 


248 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


sonal difference between him and me was occa- 
. sion’d by the contest, and we often din’d to- 
gether. | 
One afternoon, in the height of this pblte 
quarrel, we met in the street. “ Franklin,” says 
he, “ you must go home with me and spend the 


evening; I am to have some company that you 
will like;” and, taking me by the arm, he led 
me to his house. In gay conversation over our 
wine, after supper, he told us, jokingly, that 
he much admir’d the idea of Sancho Panza,’ 
who, when it was proposed to give him a gov- 
ernment, requested it might be a government 
of blacks, as then, if he could not agree with 
his people, he might sell them. One of his 
friends, who sat next to me, says, “ Franklin, 
why do you continue to side with these damn’d 


1 The “round, selfish, and self-important ” squire of Don Quixote 
in Cervantes’ romance of that name. 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 249 


Quakers? Had not you better sell them? The 
proprietor would give you a good price.” “The 
governor,’ says I, “has not yet blacked them 
enough.” He, indeed, had laboured hard to 
blacken the Assembly in all his messages, but 
they wip’d off his colouring as fast as he laid 
it on, and plac’d it, in return, thick upon his 
own face; so that, finding he was likely to be 
negrofied himself, he, as well as Mr. Hamilton, 
grew tir'd of the contest, and quitted the gov- 
ernment. : 

These public quarrels* were all at bottom 
owing to the proprietaries, our hereditary 
governors, who, when any expense was to be 
incurred for the defense of their province, with 
incredible meanness instructed their deputies 
to pass no act for levying the necessary taxes, 
unless their vast estates were in the same act 
expressly excused; and they had even taken 
bonds of these deputies to observe such in- 
‘structions. The Assemblies for three years 
held out against this injustice, tho’ constrained 
to bend at last. At length Captain Denny, who 
was Governor Morris’s successor, ventured to 
disobey those .instructions; how that was 
brought about I shall show hereafter. 

But I am got forward too fast with my story: 


1 My acts in Morris’s time, military, etc—Marg. note. 


250 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


there are still some transactions to be men- 
tion’d that happened during the administra- 
tion of Governor Morris. 

War being in a manner commenced with 
France, the government of Massachusetts Bay 
projected an attack upon Crown Point,’ and 
sent Mr. Quincy to Pennsylvania, and Mr. 
Pownall, afterward Governor Pownall, to New 
York, to solicit assistance. As I] was in the 
Assembly, knew its temper, and was Mr. . 
Quincy’s countryman, he appli’d to me for my 
influence and assistance. I dictated his address 
to them, which was well received. They voted 
an aid of ten thousand pounds, to be laid out 
in provisions. But the governor refusing his 
assent to their bill (which included this with 
other sums granted for the use of the crown), 
unless a clause were inserted exempting the 
proprietary estate from bearing any part of the 
tax that would be necessary, the Assembly, 
tho’ very desirous of making their grant to. 
New England effectual, were at a loss how to 
accomplish it. Mr. Quincy labored hard with 
the governor to obtain his assent, but he was 
obstinate. 


*Qn Lake Champlain, ninety miles north of Albany. It was 
captured by the French in 1731, attacked by the English in 1755 
and 1756, and abandoned by the French in 1759. It was finally 
captured from the English by the Americans in 1775. 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 251 


I then suggested a method of doing the 
business without the governor, by orders on 
the trustees of the Loan office, which, by law, | 
the Assembly had the right of drawing. There 
was, indeed, little or no money at that time in 
the office, and therefore I propos’d that the 
orders should be payable in a year, and to bear 
an interest of five per cent. With these orders 
I suppos’d the provisions might easily be pur- 
chas’d. The Assembly, with very little hesi- 
tation, adopted the proposal. The orders were 
immediately printed, and I was one of the com- 
mittee directed to sign and dispose of them. . 
The fund for paying them was the interest of / 
all the paper currency then extant in the prov- / 
ince upon loan, together with the revenue aris- \ 
ing from the excise, which being known to be 
more than sufhcient, they obtain’d instant 
credit, and were not only receiv’d in payment 
for the provisions, but many money’d people, 
who had cash lying by them, vested it in those 
orders, which they found advantageous, as they 
bore interest while upon hand, and might on 
any occasion be used as money; so that they 
were eagerly all bought up, and in a few weeks 
none of them were to be seen. Thus this im- 
portant affair was by my means completed. Mr. 
Quincy return’d thanks to the Assembly in a 


22 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


handsome memorial, went home highly pleas’d 
with this success of his embassy, and ever after 
bore for me the most cordial and affectionate 
friendship. 


XVI 


BRADDOCK’S EXPEDITION 


me ItE British government, not chusing 
to permit the union of the colonies 
as propos’d at Albany, and to trust 
that union with their defense, lest 
they should thereby grow too military, and 
feel their own strength, suspicions and jeal- 
ousies at this time being entertain’d of them, 
sent over General Braddock with two regiments 
of regular English troops for that purpose. 
He landed at Alexandria, in Virginia, and 
thence march’d to Frederictown, in Maryland, 
where he halted for carriages. Our Assembly 
apprehending, from some information, that he 
had conceived violent prejudices against them, 
as averse to the service, wish’d me to wait upon 
him, not as from them, but as postmaster-gen- 
eral, under the guise of proposing to settle with 
him the mode of conducting with most celerity 
and certainty the despatches between him and 
_the governors of the several provinces, with 
whom he must necessarily have continual cor- 


respondence, and of which they propos’d to 
253 


254 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


pay the expense. My son accompanied me 
this journey. : 

We found the general at Frederictown, vait-— 
ing impatiently for the return of those he had 
sent thro’ the back parts of Maryland and Vir- 
ginia to collect waggons. I stayed with him 
several days, din’d with him daily, and had full 
opportunity of removing all his prejudices, by 
the information of what the Assembly had be- 
fore his arrival actually done, and were still 
willing to-do, to facilitate his operations. | 
When I was about to depart, the returns of 
waggons to be obtained were brought in, by 
which it appear’d that they amounted only to 
twenty-five, and not all of those were in ser- 
viceable condition. The general and all the 
officers were surpris’d, declar’d the expedition 
was then at an end, being impossible, and ex- 
claim’d against the ministers for ignorantly 
landing. them in a country destitute of the 
‘means of conveying their stores, baggage, etc., 
not. less than one hundred and fifty waggons 
being necessary. | 

I happen’d to say I thought it was pity they 
had not been landed rather in Pennsylvania, as 
in that country almost every farmer had his 
waggon. The general eagerly laid hold of my 
words, and said, “ Then you, sir, who are a 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 255 


man of interest there, can probably procure 
them for us; and I beg you will undertake it.” 
[ ask’d what terms were to be offer’d the 
owners of the waggons, and I was desir’d to 
put on paper the terms that appeared to me 
necessary. This I did, and they were agreed 
to, and a commission and instructions accord- | 
ingly prepar’d immediately. What those terms 
were will appear in the advertisement I pub- 
lish’d as soon as I arriv’d at Lancaster, which 
being, from the great and sudden effect it pro- 
duc’d, a piece of some curiosity, I shall insert 
it at length, as follows: 


‘* ADVERTISEMENT. 


“LANCASTER, April 26, 1755. 

“Whereas, one hundred and fifty waggons, 
with four horses to each waggon, and fifteen 
hundred saddle or pack horses, are wanted for 
the service of his majesty’s forces now about to 
rendezvous at Will’s Creek, and his excellency 
General Braddock having been pleased to em- 
power me to contract for the hire of the same, | 
I hereby give notice that I shall attend for that 
purpose at Lancaster from this day to next 
Wednesday evening, and at York from next 
Thursday morning till Friday evening, where 
I shall be ready to agree for waggons and 


236 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


teams, or single horses, on the following terms, 
viz.: 1. That there shall be paid for each wag- 
gon, with four good horses and a driver, fifteen 
shillings per diem; and for each able horse with 
a pack-saddle, or other saddle and furniture, 
two shillings per diem; and for each able horse 
without a saddle, eighteen pence per diem. 
2. That the pay commence from the time of 
their joining the forces at Will’s Creek, which 
must be on or before the 20th of May ensuing, 
and thdt a reasonable allowance be paid over 
and above for the time necessary for their trav- 
elling to Will’s Creek and home again after ~ 
their discharge. 3. Each waggon and team, 
and every saddle or pack horse, is to be valued 
by indifferent persons chosen between me and 
the owner; and in case of the loss of any wag- 
gon, team, or other horse in the service, the 
price according to such valuation is to be 
allowed and paid. 4. Seven days’ pay is to be 
advanced and paid in hand by me to the owner 
of each waggon and team, or horse, at the 
time’ of contracting, if required, and the re- 
mainder to be paid by General Braddock, or 
by the paymaster of the army, at the time of 
heir discharge, or from time to time, as it 
shall be demanded. 5. No drivers of waggons, 
‘or persons taking care of the hired horses, are 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 257 


on any account to be called upon to do the duty 
of soldiers, or be otherwise employed than in 
conducting or taking care of their carriages or 
horses. 6. All oats, Indian corn, or other for- 
age that waggons or horses bring to the camp, 
more than is necessary for the subsistence of 
the horses, is to be taken for the use of the 
army, and a reasonable price paid for the same. 

“Note.—My son, William Franklin, is em- 
powered to enter into like contracts with any 
Hgee in Cumberland county. 

“B. FRANKLIN.” 


“To the inhabitants of the Counties of Lan- 
caster, York, and Cumberland. 


“Friends and Countrymen, 

“Being occasionally * at the camp at Fred- 
eric a few days since, I found the general and 
officers extremely exasperated on account of 
their not being supplied with horses and car- 
riages, which had been expected from this prov- 
ince, as most able to furnish them; but, through 
the dissensions between our governor and As- 
sembly, money had not been provided, nor any 
steps taken for that purpose. 

“It was proposed to send an armed force 
immediately into these counties, to seize as 

1 By chance. 


258 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


many of the best carriages and horses as should 
be wanted, and compel as many persons into the 
service as would be necessary to drive and take 
care of them. 

““T apprehended that the progress of British 
soldiers through these counties on such an 
Occasion, especially considering the temper they 
are in, and their resentment against us, would 
be attended with many and great inconveniences 
to the inhabitants, and therefore more willingly 
took the trouble of trying first what might be 
done by fair and equitable means. The people 
of these back counties have lately complained 
to the Assembly that a sufficient currency was 
wanting; you have an opportunity of receiving 
and dividing among you a very considerable 
sum; for, if the service of this expedition should 
continue, as it is more than probable it will, 
for one hundred and twenty days, the hire of 
these waggons and horses will amount to upward 
of thirty thousand pounds, which will be paid 
you in silver and gold of the king’s money. 

“The service will be light and easy, for the 
army will scarce march above twelve miles per 
day, and the waggons and baggage-horses, as 
they carry those things that are absolutely nec- 
essary to the welfare of the army, must march 
with the army, and no faster; and are, for 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 259 


the army’s sake, always placed where they can 
be most secure, whether in a march or in a camp. 

‘“ If you are really, as I believe you are, good 
and loyal subjects to his majesty, you may now 
do a most acceptable service, and make it easy 
to yourselves; for three or four of such as can- 
not separately spare from the business of their 
plantations a waggion and four horses and a 
driver, may do it together, one furnishing the 
- waggon, another one or two horses, and another 
the driver, and divide the pay proportionately 
between you; but if you do not this service 
to your king and country voluntarily, when 
such good pay and reasonable terms are offered 
to you, your loyalty will be strongly suspected. 
The king’s business must be done; so many 
brave troops, come so far for your defense, 
must not stand idle through your backward- 
ness to do what may be reasonably expected 
from you; waggons and horses must be had; 
violent measures will probably be used, and 
you will be left to seek for a recompense where 
you can find it, and your case, perhaps, be 
little pitied or regarded. 

“T have no particular interest in this affair, 
as, except the satisfaction of endeavouring to 
do good, I shall have only my labour for my 
pains. If this method of obtaining the wag- 


f 


aa 


260 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


gons and horses is not likely to succeed, I am 
obliged to send word to the general in fourteen 
days; and I suppose Sir John St. Clair, the hus- 
sar, with a body of soldiers, will immediately 
enter the province for the purpose, which I~ 
shall be sorry to hear, because I am very sin- 
cerely and truly your friend and well-wisher, 
“'B. FRANKLIN.” 


I received of the general about eight hun- 
dred pounds, to be disbursed in advance- 
money to the waggon owners, etc.; but that 
sum being insufficient, I advanc’d upward of 
two hundred pounds more, and in two weeks 
the one hundred and fifty waggons, with two 
hundred and fifty-nine carrying horses, were 
on their march for the camp. The advertise- 
ment promised payment according to the valu- 
ation, in case any waggon or horse should be 
lost. The owners, however, alleging they did 
not know General Braddock, or what depend- 
ence might be had on his promise, insisted on 
my bond for the performance, which I accord- 
ingly gave them. 

While I was at the camp, supping one even- 
ing with the officers of Colonel Dunbar’s regi- 
ment, he represented to me his concern for the 
subalterns, who, he said, were generally not in 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 261 


affluence, and could ill afford, in this dear 
country, to lay in the stores that might be 
necessary in so long a march, thro’ a wilder- 
ness, where nothing was to be purchas’d. I 
commiserated their case, and resolved to en- 
deavour procuring them some relief. I said 
nothing, however, to him of my intention, but 
wrote the next morning to the committee of 
the Assembly, who had the disposition of some 
public money, warmly recommending the case 
of these officers to their consideration, and pro- 
posing that a present should be sent them of 
necessaries and refreshments. My son, who 
had some experience of a camp life, and of 
its wants, drew up a list for me, which I 
enclos’d in my letter. The committee approv’d, 
and used such diligence that, conducted by my 
son, the stores arrived at the camp as soon as 
the waggons. They consisted of twenty par- 
cels, each containing 


6 lbs. loaf sugar. Ae 1 Gloucester cheese. 

6 lbs. good Muscovado do. 1 kegg containing 20 lbs. 
1 lb. good green tea. good butter. ! 

1 Ib. good bohea do. 2 doz. old Madeira wine. 

6 Ibs. good ground coffee. 2 gallons Jamaica spirits. 
6 lbs. chocolate. 1 bottle flour of mustard. 
I-2 cwt. best white biscuit. 2 well-cur’d hams. 

1-2 lb. pepper. 1-2 dozen dry’d tongues. 


I quart best .white wine 6 Ibs. rice. 
vinegar. 6 lbs. raisins. 


262 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


These twenty parcels, well pack’d, were 
placed on as many horses, each parcel, with 
the horse, being intended as a present for one 
officer. They were very thankfully receiv’d, 
and the kindness acknowledg’d by letters to 
me from the colonels of both regiments, in the 
most grateful terms. The general, too, was 
highly satisfied with my conduct in procuring 
-him the waggons, etc., and readily paid my 
account of disbursements, thanking me repeat- 
edly, and requesting my farther assistance in 
sending provisions after him. I undertook this 
also, and was busily employ’d in it till we 
heard of his defeat, advancing for the service 
of my own money, upwards of one thousand 
pounds sterling, of which I sent him an account. 
It came to his hands, luckily for me, a few days 
before the battle, and he return’d me immedi- 
ately an order on the paymaster for the round | 
sum of one thousand pounds, leaving the re- — 
mainder to the next account. I consider this 
payment as good luck, having never been able 
to obtain that remainder, of which more here- 
after. | 

This general was, I think, a brave man, and 
might probably have made a figure as a good 
officer in some European war. But he had too 
much self-confidence, too high an opinion of 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 263 


the validity of regular troops, and too mean a 
one of both Americans and Indians. George 
Croghan, our Indian interpreter, join’d him on 
his march with one hundred of those people, 
who might have been of great use to his army 
as guides, scouts, etc., if he had treated them 
kindly; but he slighted and neglected them, 
and they gradually left him. 

In conversation with him one day, he was 
giving me some account of his intended prog- 
‘ress. “ After taking Fort Duquesne,’* says 
he, “I am to proceed to Niagara; and, hav- 
ing taken that, to Frontenac,’ if the season will 
allow time; and I suppose it will, for Duquesne 
can hardly detain me above three or four days; 
and then I see nothing that can obstruct my 
march to Niagara.” Having before revolv’d 
in my mind the long line his army must make 
in their march by a very narrow road, to be 
cut for them thro’ the woods and bushes, and 
also what I had read of a former defeat of 
fifteen hundred French, who invaded the Iro- 
quois country, I had conceiv’d some doubts 
and some fears for the event of the campaign. 
But I ventur’d only to say,“ To be sure, sir, 
if you arrive well before Duquesne, with these 


1 Pittsburg. 
2 Kingston, at the eastern end of Lake Ontario. 


— 


264 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


fine troops, so well provided with artillery, that 
place not yet completely fortified, and as we 
hear with no very strong garrison, can prob- 
ably make but a short resistance. The only . 
danger I apprehend of obstruction to your 
march is from ambuscades of Indians, who, by 
constant practice, are dexterous in laying and 
executing them; and the slender line, near four 
miles long, which your army must make, may 
expose it to be attack’d by surprise in its 
flanks, and to be cut like a thread into several 
pieces, which, from their distance, cannot come 
up in time to support each other.” ey 

He smil’d at my ignorance, and reply d, 
“These savages may, indeed, be a formidable 
enemy to your raw American militia, but upon 
the king’s regular and disciplin’d troops, sir, 
it is impossible they should make any impres- 
sion.” JI was conscious of an impropriety in 
my disputing with a military man in matters 
of his profession, and said no more. The 
enemy, however, did not take the advantage 
of his army which I apprehended its long line 
of march expos’d it to, but let-it advance with- 
out interruption till within nine miles of the 
place; and then, when more in a body (for it 
had just passed a river, where the front had 
halted till all were come over), and in a more 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY , 265 


open part of the woods than any it had pass’'d, 
attack’d its advanced guard by heavy fire from 
behind trees and bushes, which was the first 
intelligence the general had of an enemy’s be- 
ing near him. This guard being disordered, the 
general hurried the troops up to their assist- 
ance, which was done in great confusion, thro’ 
waggons, baggage, and cattle; and presently 


OH ! 
Ae 
it 4] i 
{ | 


the fire came upon their flank: the officers, be- 
ing on.horseback, were more easily distin- 
guish’d, pick’d out as marks, and fell very fast; 
and the soldiers were crowded together in a 
huddle, having or hearing no orders, and stand- 
ing to be shot at till two-thirds of them were 
killed; and then, being seiz’d with a panick, 
the whole fled with precipitation. 

The waggoners took each a horse out of his 


266 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


team and scamper’d; their example was im- 
mediately followed by others; so that all the 
wagegons, provisions, artillery, and stores were 
left to the enemy. The general, being wounded, 
was brought off with difficulty; his secretary, 
Mr. Shirley, was killed by his side; and out 
of eighty-six officers, sixty-three were killed 
or wounded, and seven hundred and fourteen 
men killed out of eleven hundred. These eleven 
hundred had been picked men from the whole 
army; the rest had been leit behimid wit 
Colonel Dunbar, who was to follow with the 
heavier part of the stores, provisions, and bag- 
gage. The flyers, not being pursu/d,’ arrvd 
at Dunbar’s camp, and the panick they brought 
with them instantly seiz’d him and all his 
people; and, tho’ he had now above one thou- 
sand men, and the enemy who had beaten Brad- 
dock did not at most exceed four hundred In- 
dians and French together, instead of pro- 
ceeding, and endeavouring to recover some of 
the lost honour, he ordered all the stores, am- 
munition, etc., to be destroy’d, that he might 
have more horses to assist his flight towards 
the settlements, and less lumber to remove. 
He was there met with requests from the gov- 
ernors of Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsyl- 
vania, that he would post his troops on the 


/ 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY § 267 


frontier, so as to afford some protection to the 
inhabitants; but he continu’d his hasty march 
thro’ all the country, not thinking himself safe 
till he arriv’d at Philadelphia, where the inhabi- 
tants could protect him. This whole transac- 
tion gave us Americans the first suspicion that 
our exalted ideas of the prowess of British 
regulars had not been well founded.’ 

In their first march, too, from their landing 
till they got beyond the settlements, they had. 
plundered and stripped the inhabitants, totally 
ruining some poor families, besides insulting, 
abusing, and confining the people if they re- 
monstrated. This was enough to put us out 
of conceit of such defenders, if we had really 
wanted any. How different was the conduct 
of our French friends in 1781, who, during a 
march thro’ the most inhabited part of our 
country from Rhode Island to Virginia, near 
seven hundred miles, occasioned not the small- 
est complaint for the loss of a pig, a chicken, 
or even an apple. 

Captain Orme, who was one of the general’s 
aids-de-camp, and, being grievously wounded, 
was brought off with him, and continu’d with 


_* Other accounts of this expedition and defeat may be found 
in Fiske’s Washington and his Country, or Lodge’s George Wash- 
ington, Vol. I. 


268 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


him to his death, which happen’d in a few 
days, told me that he was totally silent all the 
first day, and at night only said, “Who would 
have thought it?” That he was silent again 
the following day, saying only at last, “We 
shall better know how to deal with them another 
time’’, and dy’d in a few minutes after. 

The secretary’s papers, with all the general’s 
orders, instructions, and correspondence, fall- 
ing into the enemy’s hands, they selected and 
translated into French a number of the articles, 
which they printed, to prove the hostile inten- 
tions of the British court before the declaration 
of war. Among these I saw some letters of the 
general to the ministry, speaking highly of 
the great service I had rendered the army, and 
recommending me to their notice. David 
Hume,’ too, who was some years after secre- 
tary to Lord Hertford, when minister in France, 
and afterward to General Conway, when sec- 
retary of state, told me he had seen among 
the papers in that office, letters from Brad- 
dock highly recommending me. But, the ex- 
.pedition having been unfortunate, my service, 
it seems, was not thought of much value, for 
those recommendations were never of any use 
to (Mic. : 

1A famous Scotch philosopher and historian (1711-1776). 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 269 


As to rewards from himself, I ask’d only 
one, which was, that he would give orders to 
his officers not to enlist any more of our 
bought servants, and that he would discharge 
such as had been already enlisted. This he 
readily granted, and several were accordingly 
return’d to their masters, on my application. 
Dunbar, when the command devolv’d on him, 
was not so generous. .He being at Phila- 
delphia, on his retreat, or rather flight, I ap- 
ply’d to him for the discharge of the servants 
of three poor farmers of Lancaster county that 
he had enlisted, reminding him of the late 
general’s orders on that head. He promised 
me that, if the masters would come to him at 
Trenton, where he should be in a few days on 
his march to New York, he would thete de- 
liver their men to them. They accordingly 
were at the expense and trouble of going to 
Trenton, and there he refus’d to perform his 
promise, to their great loss and disappoint- 
ment. 

As soon as the loss of the waggons and 
horses was generally known, all the owners 
came upon me for the valuation which I had 
given bond to pay. Their demands gave me 
a great deal of trouble, my acquainting them 
that the money was ready in the paymaster’s 


270 ‘“FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


hands, but that orders for paying it must first 
be obtained from General Shirley,’-and my as- 
suring them that I had apply’d to that general 
by letter; but, he being at a distance, an an- 
swer could not soon be receiv’d, and they must 
have patience, all this was not sufficient to sat- 
isfy, and some began to sue me. General 
Shirley at length relieved me from this terri- 
ble situation by appointing commissioners to 
examine the claims, and ordering payment. 
They amounted to near twenty thousand 
pound, which to pay would have ruined 
me. 

Before we had the news of this defeat, the 
two Doctors Bond came to me with a subscrip- 
tion paper for raising money to defray the ex- 
pense of a grand firework, which it was in- 
tended to exhibit at a rejoicing on receipt of 
the news of our taking Fort Duquesne. I 
looked grave, and said it would, I thought, be 
time enough to prepare for the rejoicing when 
we knew we should have occasion to rejoice. 
They seem’d surpris’d that I did not immedi- 
ately comply with their proposal. “ Why the 
d—I!” says one of them, “you surely don’t 
suppose that the fort will not be taken?” 


1Governor of Massachusetts and commander of the British 


forces in America. 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 271 


“T don’t know that it will not be taken, but 
I know that the events of war are subject to 
great uncertainty.” I gave them the reasons 
of my doubting; the subscription was dropt, 
and the projectors thereby missed the mortifi- 
cation they would have undergone if the fire- 
work had been prepared. Dr. Bond, on some 
other occasion afterward, said that he did not 
like Franklin’s forebodings. 

Governor Morris, who had continually wor- 
ried the Assembly with message after mes- 
sage before the defeat of Braddock, to beat 
them into the making of acts to raise money 
for the defense of the province, without tax- 
ing, among others, the proprietary estates, and 
had rejected all their bills for not having such 
an exempting clause, now redoubled his at- 
tacks with more hope of success, the danger 
and necessity being greater. The Assembly, 
however, continu’d firm, believing they had 
justice on their side, and that it would be giv- 
ing up an essential right if they suffered the 
governor to amend their money-bills. In one 
of the last, indeed, which was for granting 
fifty thousand pounds, his propos’d amendment 
was only of a single word. The bill express’d 
“that all estates, real and personal, were to be 
taxed, those of the proprietaries not excepted.” 


2972 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


His amendment was, for not read only: a small, 
but very material alteration. However, when 
the news of this disaster reached England, our 
friends there whom we had taken care to 
furnish with all the Assembly’s answers. to the 
governor’s messages, rais’'d a clamor against 
the proprietaries for their meanness and injus- 
tice in giving their governor such instructions; 
some going so far as to say that, by obstruct- 
ing the defense of their province, they for-— 
feited their right to it. They were intimidated 
by this, and sent orders to their receiver-gen- 
eral to add five thousand pounds of their 
money to whatever sum might be given by 
the Assembly for such purpose. 

This, being notified to the House, was ac- 
cepted in lieu of their share of a general tax, 
and a new bill was form’d, with an exempt- 
ing clause, which passed accordingly. By this 
act I was appointed one of the commissioners - 
for disposing of the money, sixty thousand 
pounds. I had been active in modelling the 
bill and procuring its passage, and had, at the 
same time, drawn a bill for establishing and 
disciplining a voluntary militia, which I carried 
thro’ the House without much difficulty, as care 
was taken in it to leave the Quakers at their 
liberty. To promote the association necessary 


PReawkGiuN S)sAU TOBIOGRAPHY’ +273 


to form the militia, I wrote a dialogue,’ stating 
and answering all the objections I could think 
of to such a militia, which was printed, and 
had, as I thought, great effect. 


1 This dialogue and the militia act are in the Gentleman’s Maga- 
zine for February and March, 1756.—Marg. note. 


XVIL 
FRANKLIN’S DEFENSE OF THE 
FRONTIER. eis 


charge of our North-western frontier, which 
was infested by the enemy, and provide for 
the defense of the inhabitants by raising 
troops and building a line of forts. I under- 
took this military business, tho’ I did not con- 
ceive myself well qualified for it. He gave 
me a commission with full powers, and a par- 
cel of blank commissions for officers, to be © 
given to whom I thought fit. I had. but lit- 
tle difficulty in raising men, having soon five 
hundred and sixty under my command. My 
son, who had in the preceding war been an of- 
ficer in the army rais’d against Canada, was 
my aid-de-camp, and of great use to me. The 
Indians had burned Gnadenhut,* a village set- 
tled by the Moravians, and massacred the in- 


* Pronounced Gna’-den-hoot. 
274 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 275 


habitants; but the place was thought a good 
situation for one of the forts. 

In order to march thither, I assembled the 
companies at Bethlehem, the chief establish- 
ment of those people. I was surprised to find 
it in so good a posture of defense; the destruc- 
tion of Gnadenhut had made them apprehend 
danger. The principal buildings were de- 
fended by a stockade; they had purchased a 
quantity of arms and ammunition from New 
York, and had even plac’d quantities of small 
‘paving stones between the windows of their 
high stone houses, for their women to throw 
down upon the heads of any [Indians that 
should attempt to force into them. The armed 
brethren, too, kept watch, and reliev'd as 
methodically as in any garrison town. In con-— 
versation with the bishop, Spangenberg, I 
mention’d this my surprise; for, knowing they 
had obtained an act of Parliament exempting 
them from military duties in the colonies, I 
had suppos’d they were conscientiously scru- 
pulous of bearing arms. He answer’d me that 
it was not one of their established principles, 
but that, at the time of their obtaining that 
act, it was thought to be a principle with 
many of their people. On this occasion, how- 
ever, they, to their surprise, found it adopted 


276 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


by but a few. It seems they were either de- 
ceivd in themselves, or deceiv’'d the Parlia- 
ment; but common sense, aided by present dan- 
ger, will sometimes be too strong for whimsi- 
cal opinions. 

It was the beginning of January when we 
set out upon this business of building forts. 
I sent one detachment toward the Muinisink, 
with instructions to erect one for the security 
of that upper part of the country, and another 
to the lower part, with similar instructions; 
and I concluded to go myself with the rest of 
my force to Gnadenhut, where a fort was tho’t 
more immediately necessary. The Moravians 
procur’d me five waggons for our tools, stores, 
baggage, etc. | 

Just before we left Bethlehem, eleven farm- 
ers, who had been driven from their planta- 
tions by the Indians, came to me requesting a 
supply of firearms, that they might go back 
and fetch off their cattle. I gave them each a 
gun with suitable ammunition. We had not 
march’d many miles before it began to rain, 
and it continued raining all day; there were 
no habitations on the road to shelter us, till 
we afrivd near night at the house of a Ger- 
man, where, and in his barn, we were all hud- 
dled together, as wet as water could make us. 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 277 


It was well we were not attack’d in our march, 
for our arms were of the most ordinary sort, 
and our men could not keep their gun locks * 
dry. The Indians are dexterous in contri- 
vances for that purpose, which we had not. 
They met that day the eleven poor farmers 
above mentioned, and killed ten of them. The 


WA to 
Wi Ses 7 V4 Vy 


Yn, iG ( He 
Uy hy } il 
i Ys . Z a , OCA 


<4) | ie Dysge 
DS OAL WZ sn An hi a a ae 
wh, sey a 0 yr he i nO Wy 
7 (i Ma. i % p Vy if4 
i Ons fp y Yo ; 


a Dy Ky OY f i Aha 
Sy Wa aN ; yi 


one who escap’d inform’d that his and his 
companions’ guns would not go off, the prim- 
ing being wet with the rain. 

The next day .being fair, we continu’d our 
march, and arriv’d at the desolated Gnadenhut. 
There was a saw-mill near, round which were 
left several piles of boards, with which we soon 
hutted ourselves; an operation the more neces- 
sary at that inclement season, as we had no 


+ Flint-lock guns, discharged by means of a spark struck from 
flint and steel into powder (priming) in an open pan. 


278 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


tents. Our first work was to bury more ef- 
fectually the dead we found there, who had 
been half interr’d by the country people. 
The next morning our fort was plann’d and 
mark’d out, the circumference measuring four 
hundred and fifty-five feet, which would re- 
quire as many palisades to be made of trees, 
one with another, of a foot diameter each. 
Our axes, of which we had seventy, were im- 
mediately set to work to cut down trees, and, 
our men being dexterous in the use of them, 
great despatch was made. Seeing the trees 
fall so fast, I had the curiosity to look at my 
watch when two men began to cut at a pine; 
in six minutes they had it upon the ground, 
and I found it of fourteen inches diameter. 
Each pine made three palisades of eighteen 
feet long, pointed at one end. While these 
were preparing, our other men dug a trench all 
round, of three feet deep, in which the pali- 
sades were to be planted; and, our waggons, 
the bodys being taken off, and the fore and hind 
wheels separated by taking out the pin which 
united the two parts of the perch, we had ten 
carriages, with two horses each, to bring the 
palisades from the woods to the spot. When 
they were set up, our carpenters built a stage 


1 Here the pole connecting the front and rear wheels of a wagon. 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 279 


of boards all round within, about six feet high, 
for the men to stand on when to fire thro’ the 
loopholes. We had one swivel gun, which we 
mounted on one of the angles, and fir’d it as 
soon as fix’d, to let the Indians know, if any 
were within hearing, that we had such pieces; 
and thus our fort, if such a magnificent name 
may be given to so miserable a stockade, was 
finish’d in a week, though it rain’d so hard 
every other day that the men could not work. 

This gave me occasion to observe, that, 
when men are employ’d, they are best con- 
tent’d; for on the days they worked they were 
good-natur’d and cheerful, and, with the con- 
sciousness of having done a good day’s work, 
they spent the evening jollily; but on our idle 
days they were mutinous and quarrelsome, 
finding fault with their pork, the bread, etc., 
and in continual ill-humour, which put me in 
mind of a sea-captain, whose rule it was to 
keep his men constantly at work; and, when 
his mate once told him that they had done 
everything, and there was nothing further to 
employ them about, “Oh,” says he, “ make 
them scour the anchor.” 

This kind of fort, however contemptible, is 
a sufficient defense against Indians, who have 
no cannon. Finding ourselves now posted se- 


> 


280 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY | 


curely, and having a place to retreat to on oc- 
casion, we ventur’d out in parties to scour the 
adjacent country. We met with no Indians, but 
we found the places on.the neighbouring hills — 
where they had lain to watch our proceedings. 
There was an art in their contrivance of those 
places that seems worth mention. It being 
winter, a fire was necessary for them; but a 
common fire on the surface of the ground 
would by its light have discover’d their posi- 
tion at a distance. They had therefore dug 
holes in the ground about three feet diameter, 
and somewhat deeper; we saw where they had 
with their hatchets cut off the charcoal from 
the sides of burnt logs lying in the woods. With 
these coals they had made small fires in the bot- 
tom of the holes, and we observ’'d among the 
weeds and grass the prints of their bodies, made 
by their laying all round, with their legs hanging 
down in the holes to keep their feet warm, 
which, with them, is an essential point. This 
kind of fire, so manag’d, could not discover 
them, either by its light, fame, sparks, or even 
smoke: it appear’d that their number was not 
great, and it seems they saw we were too 
many to be attacked by them with prpspee 
of advantage. : 

We had for our chaplain a zealous Presby- 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY § 281 


terian minister, Mr. Beatty, who complained 
to me that the men did not generally attend 
his prayers and exhortations. When they en- 
listed, they were promised, besides pay and’ 
provisions, a gill of rum a day, which was 
punctually servd out to them, half.in the 
‘morning, and the other half in the evening; 
and I observ’d they were as punctual in at- 
tending to receive it; upon which I said to Mr. 
Beatty, “It is, perhaps, below the dignity of 
your profession to act as steward of the rum, 
but if you were to deal it out and only just 
after prayers, you would have them all about 
you.” He liked the tho’t, undertook the office, 
and, with the help of a few hands to meas- 
ure out the liquor, executed it to satisfaction, 
and never were prayers more generally and 
more punctually attended; so that I thought 
this method preferable to the punishment. in- 
flicted by some military laws for non-attend- 
ance on divine service. 

I had hardly finish’d this business, and got 
my fort well stor’d with provisions, when I 
receiv'd a letter from the governor, acquaint- 
ing me that he had call’d the Assembly, and 
wished my attendance there, if the posture of 
affairs on the frontiers was such that my re- 
maining there was no longer necessary. My 


282 FRANKLIN'S ADO 


friends, too, of the Assembly, pressing me by 
their letters to be, if- possible, at the meeting, 
and my three intended forts being now com- 
pleated, and the inhabitants contented to re- 
main on their farms under that protection, | 
resolved to return; the more willingly, as a 
New England officer, Colonel Clapham, ex- 
perienced in Indian war, being on a visit to 
our establishment, consented to accept the 
command. I gave him a commission, and, pa- 
rading the garrison, had-it read before them, 
and introduc’d him to them as an officer who, — 
from his skill in military affairs, was much 
more fit to command them than myself; and, 
giving them a little exhortation, took mi 
leave. I was escorted as far as. Bethlehem, 
where I rested a few days to recover from the 
fatigue I had undergone. The first night, be- 
ing in a good bed, I could hardly sleep, it was ° 
so different from my hard lodging on tie 
floor of our hut at Gnaden bat only: in: a 
blanket or two. 

While at Bethlehem, I inquir’d a little into 
the practice of the Moravians: some of them 
had accompanied me, and all were very kind 
to me. I found they work’d for a common 
stock, ete at common tables, and slept in com- 
mon dormitories, great numbers together. In 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY | 283 


the dormitories I observed loopholes, at cer- 
tain distances all along just under the ceiling, 
which I thought judiciously placed for change 
of air. I was at their church, where I was 
entertain’d with good musick, the organ being 
accompanied with violins, hautboys, flutes, 
clarinets, etc. I understood that their sermons 
were not usually preached to mixed congrega- 
tions of men, women, and children, as is our 
common practice, but that they assembled 
sometimes the married men, at other times 
their wives, then the young men, the young 
women, and the little children, each division 
by itself. The sermon I heard was to the lat- 
ter, who came in and were plac’d in rows on 
benches; the boys under the conduct of a 
young man, their tutor, and the girls con- 
ducted by a young woman. The discourse 
seem'd well adapted to their capacities, and 
was deliver’d in a pleasing, familiar manner, 
coaxing them, as it were, to be good. They 
-behav’d very orderly, but looked pale and un- 
healthy, which made me suspect they were 
kept too much within doors, or not allow’d 
sufficient exercise. | 

I inquir’d concerning the Moravian mar- 
riages, whether the report was true that they 
were by lot. I was told that lots were us’d 


284. FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


only in particular cases; that generally, when 
a young man found himself dispos’d to marry, 
he inform’d the elders of his class, who con- 
sulted the elder ladies that govern’d the young 
women. As these elders of the different sexes 
were well acquainted with the tempers and 
dispositions of their respective pupils, they 
could best judge what matches were suitable, 
and their judgments were generally acquiesc’d 
in; but if, for example, it should happen that 
two or three young women were found to be 
equally proper for the young man, the lot was 
then recurred, to. I objected, if the matches. 
are not made by the mutual choice of the 
parties, some of them may chance to be very 
unhappy. “And so they may,’ answer’'d my 
informer, “if you let the parties *chuse for 
themselves;”’ which, indeed, I could not deny. 
Being returned to Philadelphia, I found the 
association went on swimmingly, the inhabi- 
tants that were not Quakers having pretty 
generally come into it, formed themselves into 
companies, and chose their captains, lieutenants, 
and ensigns, according to the new law. Dr. 
B. visited me, and gave me an account of the 
pains he had taken to spread a general good 
liking to the law, and ascribed much to those 
endeavours. I had had the vanity to asscribe 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


all to my Dialogue; however, not knowing but 
that he might be in the right, I let him enjoy 
his opinion, which I take to be generally the 
best way in such cases. The officers, meeting, 
chose me to be colonel of the regiment, which 
I this time accepted. I forget how many com- 
panies we had, but we paraded about twelve 
hundred well-looking men, with a company of 
artillery, who had been furnished with six 
brass field-pieces, which. they had become so 
expert in the use of as to fire twelve times in 
-a minute. The first time I reviewed my regi- 
ment they accompanied me to my house, and 
would salute me with some rounds fired be- 
fore my door, which shook down and broke 
several glasses of my electrical apparatus. 
And my new henour proved not much less 
brittle; for all our commissions were soon 
after broken by a repeal of the law in England. 
‘ During this short time of my colonelship, 
being about to set out on a journey to Vir- 
ginia, the officers of my regiment took it into 
their heads that it would be proper for them 
to escort me out of town, as far as the Lower 
Ferry. Just as I was getting on horseback 
they came to my door, between thirty and 
forty, mounted, and all in their uniforms. I 
had not been previously acquainted with the 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


project, or I should have prevented it, being 
naturally averse to the assuming of state on 
any occasion; and I was a good deal chagrin’d 
at their appearance, as I could not avoid their 
accompanying me. What made it worse was, 
that, as soon as we began to move, they drew 
their swords and rode with them naked all the 
way. Somebody wrote an account of this to 
the proprietor, and it gave him great offense. 
No such honour had been paid him when in 
the province, nor to any of his governors; and 
he said it was only proper to princes of the 
blood royal, which may be true for aught I 
know, who was, and still am, ignorant of the 
etiquette in such cases. 

This silly affair, however, greatly increased 
his rancour against me, which was before not 
a little, on account of my conduct in the As- 
sembly respecting the exemption of his estate 
from taxation, which I had always oppos’d 
very warmly, and not without severe reflec- 
tions on his meanness and injustice of contend- 
ing for it. He accused me to the ministry as 
being the great obstacle to the King’s service, 
preventing, by my influence in the House, the 
proper form of the bills for raising money, and 
he instanced this parade with my officers as a 
proof of my having an intention to take the 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 287 


government of the province out of his hands 
Byeiouce,; Tle) also. applied ‘to, Sir ;Everard 
Fawkener, the postmaster-general, to deprive 
me of my office; but it had no other effect 
than to procure from Sir Everard a gentle ad- 
monition. 

Notwithstanding the continual wrangle be- 
tween the governor and the House, in which 
iasea member; had so large a share, there 
still subsisted a civil intercourse between that 
gentleman and myself, and we never had any 
personal difference. I have sometimes since 
thought that his littl or no resentment 
against me, for the answers it was known I 
drew up to his messages, might be the effect 
of professional habit, and that, being bred a 
lawyer, he might consider us both as merely 
advocates for contending clients in a suit, he 
for the proprietaries and I for the Assembly. 
He would, therefore, sometimes call in a 
friendly way to advise with me on difficult 
points, and sometimes, tho’ not often, take my 
advice. 

We acted in concert to supply Braddock’s 
army with provisions; and, when the shock- 
ing news arrived of his defeat, the governor 
sent in haste for me, to consult with him on 
measures for preventing the desertion of the 


288 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


back counties. I forget now the advice I 
gave; but I think it was, that Dunbar should 
be written to, and_prevail’d with, if possible, 
to post his troops on the frontiers for their pro- 
tection, till, by reenforcements from the col- 
onies, he might be able to proceed on the ex- 
pedition. And, after my return from the fron- 
tier, he would have had me undertake the con- 
duct of such an expedition with provincial 
troops, for the reduction of Fort Duquesne, 
Dunbar and his men being otherwise em- 
ployed; and he proposed to commission me as 
general. I had not so good an opinion of my 
military abilities as he profess’d to have, and 
[ believe his professions must have exceeded 
his real sentiments; but probably he might 
think that my popularity would facilitate the 
raising of the men, and my influence ‘in As- 
sembly, the grant of money to pay them, and 
that, perhaps, without taxing the proprietary 
estate. Finding me not so forward to engage 
as he expected, the project was dropt, and he 
soon after left the government, being superseded 
by Captain Denny. 


XVITIt 


SCIENTIFIC EXPERIMENTS 
cree EFORE I proceed in relating the 
) awe : ‘ part I had in public affairs under 
i bo ; —— yg 
Mc i} this new ___governor's administra- 
Sonim tion, it may not be amiss here to 
give some account of the rise and progress of 
my philosophical reputation. 

In 1746, being at Boston, I met there with 
a Dr. Spence, who was lately arrived from 
Scotland, and show’d me some electric experi- 
ments. They were imperfectly perform’d, as 
he was not very expert; but, being on a sub- 
ject quite new to me, they equally surpris’d 
and pleased me. Soon after my return to 


' Philadelphia, our library company receiv’d 


from Mr. P. Collinson, Fellow of the Royal 
Society * of London, a present of a glass tube, 
with some account of the use of it in making 
such experiments. I eagerly seized the op- 
portunity of repeating what I had seen at Bos- 
ton; and, by much practice, acquir’d ‘great 


1 The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge 
was founded in 1660 and holds the foremost place among English 
societies for the advancement of science. 

289 


290 FRANKLIN'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


readiness in performing those, also, which we 
had an account of from England, adding a 
number of new ones. I say much practice, for 
my house was continually full, for some time, 
with people who came to see these new wonders. 

To divide a little this incumbrance among 
my friends, I caused a number of similar tubes 
to be blown at our glass-house, with which 
they furnish’d themselves, so that we had at 
length several performers. Among these, the 
principal was Mr. Kinnersley, an ingenious 
neighbour, who, being out of business, I encour- 
aged to undertake showing the experiments for 
money, and drew up for him two lectures, in 
which the experiments were rang’d in such order, 
and accompanied with such explanations in such 
method, as that the foregoing should assist in 
comprehending the following. He procur’d an 
elegant apparatus for the purpose, in which all 
the little machines that I-had roughly made 
for myself were nicely form’d by instrument- 
makers. His lectures were well attended, and 
gave great satisfaction; and after some time 
he went thro’ the colonies, exhibiting them in 
every capital town, and pick’d up some money. 
In the West India islands, indeed, it was with 
difficulty the experiments could be made, from 
the general moisture of the air. 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 291 


Oblig’d as wé were to Mr. Collinson for his 
present of the tube, etc., I thought it right he 
should be inform’d of our success in using it, 
and wrote him several letters containing ac- 
counts of our experiments. He got them read 
in the Royal Society, where they were not at 
first thought worth so much notice as to be 
printed in their Transactions. One paper, 
which I wrote for Mr. Kinnersley, on the 
sameness of lightning with electricity,’ I sent to 
Dr. Mitchel, an acquaintance of mine, and one 
of the members also of that society, who 
wrote me word that it had been read, but was 
laughed at by the connoisseurs. The papers, 
however, being shown to Dr. Fothergill, he 
thought them of too much value to be stifled, 
and advis’d the printing of them. Mr. Collin- 
son then gave them to Cave for publication in 
his Gentleman’s Magazine; but he chose to 
print them separately in a pamphlet, and Dr. 
Fothergill wrote the preface. Cave, it seems, 
judged rightly for his profit, for by the ad- 
ditions that arrived afterward, they swell’d to 
a quarto volume, which has had five editions, 
and cost him nothing for copy-money. 

It was, however, some time before those 
papers were much taken notice of in England, 

1See page 327. 


292 FRANKLIN'S AUTOBIOGR ATi 


A copy of them happening to fall into the 
hands of the Count de Buffon,’ a philosopher 
deservedly of great reputation in France, and, 
indeed, all over Europe, he prevailed with M. 
Dalibard? to translate them into French, and 
they were printed at Paris. The publication 
offended the Abbé Nollet, preceptor in Natural 
Philosophy to the royal family, and: an able 
experimenter, who had form’d and publish’d a 
theory of electricity, which then had the general 
vogue. He could not at first believe that such 
a work came from America, and said it must 
have been fabricated by his enemies at Paris, 
to decry his system. Afterwards, having been 
assur’d that there really existed such a person 
as Franklin at Philadelphia, which he had 
doubted, he wrote and published a volume of 
Letters, chiefly address’d to me, defending his 
theory, and denying the verity of my experi- 
ments, and of the positions deduc’d from them. 

I once purpos’d answering the abbé, and ac- 
tually began the answer; but, on consideration 
that my writings contain’d a description of ex- 


* A celebrated French naturalist (1707-1788). 

? Dalibard, who had translated Franklin’s letters to Collinson 
into French, was the first to demonstrate, in a practical application 
of Franklin’s experiment, that lightning and electricity are the 
same. “This was May t1oth, 1752, one month before Franklin 
flew his famous kite at Philadelphia and proved the fact himself.”— 
McMaster. 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 293 


periments which anyone might repeat and 
verify, and if not to be verifi'd, could not be 
defended; or of observations offer’d as conjec- 
tures, and not delivered dogmatically, there- 
fore not laying me under any obligation to 
defend them; and reflecting that a dispute 
between two persons, writing in different lan- 
guages, might be lengthened greatly by mis- 
translations, and thence misconceptions of one 
another’s meaning, much of one of the abbé’s 
letters being founded on an error in the trans- 
lation, I concluded to let my papers shift for 
themselves, believing it was better to spend 
what time I could spare from public business 
in making new experiments, than in disputing 
about those already made. I therefore never 
answered M. Nollet, and the event gave me no 
cause to repent my silence; for my friend M. 

le Roy, of the Royal Academy of Sciences, 
took up my cause and refuted him; my book 
was translated into the Italian, German, and 
Latin languages; and the doctrine it contain’d 
was by degrees universally adopted by the 
philosophers of Europe, in preference to that 
of the abbé; so that he lived to see himself the 
last of his sect, except Monsieur B , of 
Paris, his é/éve and immediate disciple. 

What gave my book the more sudden and 


2944 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


general celebrity, was the success of one of its 
proposed experiments, made by Messrs. Dali- 
bard and De Lor at Marly, for drawing light- 
ning from the clouds. This engag’d the pub- 
lic attention everywhere. M. de Lor, who had 
an apparatus for experimental philosophy, and ~ 
lectur’d in that branch of science, undertook to 
repeat what he called the Philadelphia Experi- 
ments; and, after they were performed before 
the king and court, all the curious of Paris 
flocked to see them. I will not swell this nar- 
rative with an account of that capital experi- 
ment, nor of the infinite pleasure I receiv'd in 
the success of a similar one I made soon after 
with a kite at Philadelphia, as both are to be 
found in the histories of electricity. 

Dr. Wright, an English physician, when at 
Paris, wrote to a friend, who was of the Royal 
Society, an account of the high esteem my ex- 
periments were in among the learned abroad, 
and of their wonder that my writings had 
been so little noticed in England. The society, 
on this, resum’d the consideration of the let- 
ters that had been read to them; and the cele- 
brated Dr. Watson drew up a summary ac- 
count of them, and of all I had afterwards sent 
to England on the subject, which he accom- 
panied with some praise of the writer. This 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 295 


summary was then printed in their Transac- 
tions; and some members of the society in 
London, particularly the very ingenious Mr. 
Canton, having verified the experiment of pro- 
curing hightning from the clouds by a pointed 
rod, and acquainting them with the success, 
they soon made me more than amends for the 
slight with which they had before treated me. 
Without my having made any application for 
that honour, they chose me a member, and © 
voted that I should be excus’d the customary 
payments, which would have amounted to 
twenty-five guineas; and ever since have given 
me their Transactions gratis. They also. pre- 
sented me with the gold medal of Sir God- 
frey Copley * for the year 1753, the delivery of 
which was accompanied by a very handsome 
speech of the president, Lord Macclesfield, 
wherein I was highly honoured. 


1An English baronet (died in 1709), donator of a fund of £100, 
“in trust for the Royal Society of London for improving natural 
knowledge.” 


XIX 


AGENT OF PENNSYLVANIA IN 
LONDON 


spre] UR new governor, Captain Denny, 
| brought over for me the before- 
mentioned medal from the Royal 
Society, which he presented to me 
at an entertainment given him by the city. 
He accompanied it with very polite expres- 
sions of his esteem for me, having, as he said, 
been long acquainted with my _ character. © 
After dinner, when the company, as was cus- 
tomary at that time, were engag’d in drink- 
ing, he took me aside into another room, and 
acquainted me that he had been advis’d by his 
friends in England to cultivate a friendship 
with me, as one who was capable of giving 
him the best advice, and of contributing most 
effectually to the making his administration 
easy; that he therefore desired of all things to 
have a good understanding with me, and he 
begged me to be assured of his readiness on all 
occasions to render me every service that 


might be in his power. He said much to me, 
296 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 2 


also, of the proprietor’s good disposition to- 
wards the province, and of the advantage it 
might be to us all, and to me in particular, if 
the opposition that had been so long continu’d 
to his measures was dropt, and harmony re- 
stord between him and the people; in effect- 
ing which, it was thought no one could be 
more serviceable than myself; and I might de- 
pend on adequate acknowledgments and recom- 
penses, etc., etc. The drinkers, finding we did 
not return immediately to the table, sent us a 
decanter of Madeira, which the governor 
made liberal use of, and in proportion became 
more profuse of his solicitations and promises. 

My answers were to this purpose: that my 
circumstances, thanks to God, were such as to 
make proprietary favours unnecessary to me; 
and that, being a member of the Assembly, I 
could not possibly accept of any; that, how- 
ever, I had no personal enmity to the propri- 
etary, and that, whenever the public measures 
he propos’d should appear to be for the good 
of the people, no one should espouse and for- 
ward them more zealously than myself; my 
past opposition having been founded on this, 
that the measures which had been urged were 
evidently intended to serve the proprietary in- 
terest, with great prejudice to that of the peo- 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


ple; that I was much obliged to him (the gov- 
ernor) for his professions of regard to me, 
and that he might rely on everything in my 
power to make his administration as easy as 
possible, hoping at the same time that he had 
not brought with him the same unfortunate 
instruction his predecessor had been ham- 
pered with. 

On this he did not then explain himself; but 
when he afterwards came to do business with 
the Assembly, they appear’d again, the dis- 
putes were renewed, and I was as active as 
ever in the opposition, being the penman, first, 
of the request to have a communication of the 
instructions, and then of the remarks upon 
them, which may be found in the votes of the 
time, and in the Historical Review I after- 
ward publish’d. But between us personally no 
enmity arose; we were often together; he was 
a man of letters, had seen much of the world, and 
was very entertaining and pleasing in conversa- 
tion. He gave me the first information that my 
old friend Jas. Ralph was still alive; that he was 
esteem’d one of the best political writers in 
England; had been employed in the dispute’ 
between Prince Frederic and the king, and had | 


1 Quarrel between George II and his son, Frederick, Prince of 
Wales, who died before his father. 


PRAMKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY: 299 


obtain’d a pension of three hundred a year; 
that his reputation was indeed small as a 
poet, Pope having damned his poetry in the 

Dunciad,’ but his prose was thought as good 
as any man’s. 

The Assembly finally finding the proprietary 
obstinately persisted in manacling their depu- 
ties with instructions inconsistent not only 
with the privileges of the people, but with the 
service of the crown, resolv’d to petition the 
king against them, and appointed me their 
agent to go over to England, to present and 
support the petition. The House had sent up 
a bill to the governor, granting a sum of sixty 
thousand pounds for the king’s use (ten thou- 
sand pounds of which was subjected to the 
orders of the then general, Lord Loudoun), 
which the governor absolutely refus’d to pass, 
in compliance with his instructions. 

I had agreed with Captain Morris, of the 
packet at New York, for my passage, and my 
stores were put on board, when Lord Loudoun 
arrivd at Philadelphia, expressly, as he told 
me, to endeavour an accommodation between 
the governor and Assembly, that his majesty’s 
service might not be obstructed by their dis- 


1A satirical poem by Alexander Pope directed aeeiict various 
contemporary writers. 


300 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


-sensions. Accordingly, he desir’d the goy- 
ernor and myself to meet him, that he might 
hear what was to be said on both sides. We 
met and discussed the business. In behalf of 
the Assembly, I urged all the various argu- 
ments that may be found in the public papers 
of that time, which were of my writing, and 
are printed with the minutes of the Assembly; 
and the governor pleaded his instructions, the 
bond he had given to observe them, and his 
ruin if he disobey’d, yet seemed not unwilling 
to hazard himself if Lord Loudoun would ad- 
vise it. This his lordship did not chuse to do, 
though I once thought I had nearly prevail’d 
with him to do it; but finally he rather chose 
to urge the compliance of the Assembly; and 
he entreated me to use my endeavours with — 
them for that purpose, declaring that he 
would spare none of the king’s troops for the 
defense of our frontiers, and that, if we did 
not continue to provide for that defense our- 
selves, they must remain expos’d to the 
enemy. 

I acquainted the House with what had 
pass’'d. and, presenting them with a set of 
resolutions I had drawn up, declaring our 
rights, and that we did not relinquish our 
claim to those rights, but only suspended the 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY ) 301 


exercise of them on this occasion thro’ force, 
against which we protested, they at length 
agreed to drop that bill, and frame another 
conformable to the proprietary instructions. 
This of course the governor pass’d, and I was 
then at liberty to proceed on my _ voyage. 
But, in the meantime, the packet had sailed 
with my sea-stores, which was some loss to 
me, and my only recompense was his _ lord- 
ship’s thanks for my service, all the credit of 
obtaining the accommodation falling to his 
share. 

He set out for New York before me; and, 
as the time for dispatching the packet-boats 
was at his disposition, and there were two 
then remaining there, one of which, he said, 
was to sail very soon, I requested to know the 
precise time, that I might not miss her by any 
delay of mine. His answer was, “I have 
given out that she is to sail on Saturday next; 
but I may let you know, entre nous, that if 
you are there by Monday morning, you will 
be in time, but do not delay longer.” By some 
accidental hindrance at a ferry, it was Mon- 
day noon before I arrived, and I was much 
afraid she might have sailed, as the wind was 
fair; but I was soon made easy by the in- 
formation that she was still in the harbor, and 


302 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


would not move till the next day. One would 
imagine that I was now on the very point of 
departing for Europe. I thought so; but I 
was not then so well acquainted with his lord- 
ship’s character, of which indecision was one 
of the strongest features. I shall give some 
instances. It was about the beginning of 
April that I came to New York, and I think 
it was near the end of June before we sail’d. 
There were then two of the packet-boats, 
which had been long in port, but were de- 
tained for the general’s letters, which were al- 
ways to be ready to-morrow. Another packet 
arriv’'d; she too was detain’d; and, before we 
sail’d, a fourth was expected. Ours was the 
first to be dispatch’d, as having been there 
longest. Passengers were engaged in all, and 
some extremely impatient to be gone, and the 
merchants uneasy about their letters, and the 
orders they had given for insurance (it being 
war time) for fall goods; but their anxiety 
avail’d nothing; his lordship’s letters were not 
ready; and yet whoever waited on him found 
him always at his desk, pen in hand, and con- 
cluded he must needs write abundantly. 
Going myself one morning to pay my re-— 
spects, I found in his antechamber one Innis, — 
a messenger of Philadelphia, who had come 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 303 


from thence express with a packet from 
Governor Denny for the general. He deliv- 
ered to me some letters from my _ friends 
there, which occasion’d my inquiring when he 
was to return, and where he lodg’d, that I 
might send some letters by him. He told 
me he was order’d to call to-morrow at nine 
for the general’s answer to the governor, and 
should set off immediately. I put my letters 
into his hands the same day. A fortnight 
after I met him again in the same place. “So, 
you are soon return’d, Innis?” “ Return’d! 
fee tam not gone yet.”. “How sor” “1! 
have called here by order every morning these 
two weeks past for his lordship’s letter, and 
it is not yet ready.” “Is it possible, when he 
is so great a writer? for I see him constantly 
me his escritoire.” “ Yes,’ says Innis, “ but 
he is like St. George on the signs, always on 
horseback, and never rides on.’ This observa- 
tion of the messenger was, it seems, well 
founded; for, when in England, I understood 
that Mr. Pitt* gave it as one reason for re- 
moving this general, and sending Generals 
Amherst and Wolfe, that the minister never 


1 William Pitt, first Earl of Chatham (1708-1778), a great English 
statesman and orator. Under his able administration, England won 
Canada from France. He was a friend of America at the time of 
our Revolution. 


304 FRANKLIN(S AUTOBIOGRAPin® 


heard from him, and could not know what he was 
doing. 

This daily expectation of sailing, and all 
the three packets going down to Sandy Hook, — 
to join the fleet there, the passengers thought — 
it best to be on board, lest by a sudden order 
the ships should sail, and they be left behind. 
There, if I remember right, we were about six 
weeks, consuming our sea-stores, and oblig’d 
to procure more. At length the fleet sail’d, 
the general and all his army on board, bound 
to Louisburg, with the intent to besiege and 
take that fortress; all the packet-boats in com- — 
pany ordered to attend the general’s ship, 
ready to receive his dispatches when they 
should be ready. We were out five days be- 
fore we got a letter with leave to part, and 
then our ship quitted the fleet and steered for — 
England. The other two packets he still de- — 
tained, carried them with him to Halifax, — 
where he stayed some time to exercise the 
men in sham attacks upon sham forts, then — 
altered: his mind as to besieging Louisburg, 
and returned to New York, with all his troops, — 
together with the two packets above men- © 
tioned, and all their passengers! During his 
absence the French and savages had taken® 
Fort George, on the frontier of that province, — 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY | 305 


and the savages had massacred many of the 
garrison after capitulation. 

I saw afterwards in London Captain Bon- 
nell, who commanded one of those packets. 
He told me that, when he had been detain’d 
a month, he acquainted his lordship that his 
ship was grown foul, to a degree that must 
necessarily hinder her fast sailing, a point of 
consequence for a packet-boat, and requested 
an allowance of time to heave her down and 
clean her bottom. He was asked how long 
time that would require. He answered, three 
days. The general replied, “If you can do it 
in one day, I give leave; otherwise not; for 
you must certainly sail the day after to-mor- 
row.” So he never obtain’d leave, though de- 
tained afterwards from day to day during full 
three months. 

I saw also in London one of Bonnell’s pas- 
sengers, who was so enrag’d against his lord- 
ship for deceiving and detaining him so long 
at New York, and then carrying him to Hali- 
fax and back again, that he swore he would 
sue him for damages. Whether he did or not, 
I never heard; but, as he represented the 
injury to his affairs, it was very consider- 
able. 

On the whole, I wonder’d much how such 


306 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


a man came to be intrusted* with so impor- 
tant a business as the conduct of a great army; 
but, having since’ seen more of the greag@ 
world, and the means of obtaining, and mo- — 
tives for giving places, my wonder is dimin- 
ished. General Shirley, on whom the com- 
mand of the army devolved upon the death of 
Braddock, would, in my opinion, if continued 
in place, have made a much better campaign 
than that ‘of Loudoun in) 1757) wineh wae 
frivolous, expensive, and disgraceful to our 
nation beyond conception; for, tho’ Shirley — 
was not a bred soldier, he was sensible and — 
sagacious in himself, and attentive to good ad- 
vice from others, capable of forming judicious 
plans, and quick and active in carrying them ~ 
into execution. Loudoun, instead of defend- 
ing the colonies with his great army, left them 
totally expos’d while he paraded idly at Hali- 
fax, by which means Fort George was lost, 
besides, he derang’d all our mercantile opera- — 
tions, and distress’'d our trade, by a long em- 
bargo on the exportation of provisions, on 
pretence of keeping supplies from being ob- 
tain’d by the enemy, but in reality for beat- 


1 This relation illustrates the corruption that characterized Eng- 
lish public life in the eighteenth century. (See page 308). It was 
gradually overcome in the early part of the next century. 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY _ 307 


ing down their price in favour of the con- 
tractors, in whose profits, it was said, perhaps 
from suspicion only, he had a share. And, 
when at length the embargo was taken off, by 
neglecting to send notice of it to Charlestown, 
the Carolina fleet was detain’d near three 
months longer, whereby their bottoms were 
so much damaged by the worm that a great 
part of them foundered in their passage home. 

Shirley was, I believe, sincerely glad of be- 
ing relieved from so burdensome a charge as 
the conduct of an army must be to a man un- 
acquainted with military business. I was at 
the entertainment given by the city of New 
York to Lord Loudoun, on his taking upon 
him the command. Shirley, tho’ thereby su- 
perseded, was present also. There was a great 
company of officers, citizens, and strangers, and, 
some chairs having been borrowed in the 
neighborhood, there was one among them 
very low, which fell to the lot of Mr. Shirley. 
Perceiving it as I sat by him, I said, “ They 
have given you, sir, too low a seat.’ “No 
matter,’ says he, “Mr. Franklin, I find a low 
seat the easiest.” | 

While I was, as afore mention’d, detain’d at 
New York, I receiv’d all the accounts of the 
provisions, etc., that I had furnish’d to Brad- 


3088 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


dock, some of which accounts could not sooner 
be obtain’d from the different persons I had 
employ’d to assist in the business. I pre-— 
sented them to Lord Loudoun, desiring to be 
paid the ballance. He caus’d them to be regu- 
larly examined by the proper officer, who, — 
after comparing every article with its voucher, 
certified them to be right; and the balance 
due for which his lordship promis’d to give me 
aan order on the paymaster. This was, how- 
ever, put off from time to time; and: tho 77 
call’d often for it by appointment, I did not 
get it. At length, just before my departure, 
he told me he had, on better consideration, 
concluded not to mix his accounts with those 
of his predecessors. “And you,’ says he, 
“when in England, have only to exhibit your — 
accounts at the treasury, and you will be paid 
immediately.” | : 

I mention’d, but without effect, the great 
and unexpected expense I had been put to by 
being detain’d so long at New York, as a reason ~ 
for my desiring to be presently paid; and on 
my observing that it was not right I should — 
be put to any further trouble or delay in ob- 
taining the money I had. advaned) acy @ 
charged no commission for my service, “O, 
Sir,” says he, “you must not think of persuad- 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY | 309 


ing us that you are no gainer; we understand 
. better those affairs, and know that every one 
concerned in supplying the army finds means, 
in the doing it, to fill his own pockets.” I as- 
sur’d him that was not my case, and that I 
had not pocketed a farthing; but he appear’d 
clearly not to believe me; and, indeed, I have 
since learnt that immense fortunes are often 
made in such employments. As to my bal- 
lance, I am not paid it to this day, of which 
more hereafter. 

Our captain of the paquet had _ boasted 
much, before we sailed, of the swiftness of his 
ship; unfortunately, when we came to sea, she 
proved the dullest of ninety-six sail, to his no 
small mortification. After many conjectures 
respecting the cause, when we were near 
another ship almost as dull as ours, which, 
however, gain’d upon us, the captain ordered 
all hands to come aft, and stand as near the 
ensign staff as possible. We were, passengers in- 
cluded, about forty persons. While we stood 
there, the ship mended her pace, and soon left 
her neighbour far behind, which prov’d clearly 
what our captain suspected, that she was 
loaded too much by the head. The casks of 
water, it seems, had been all plac’d forward; 


these he therefore order’d to be mov’d further 
4 


a 


310 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


aft, on which the ship recover’d her character, 
and proved the best sailer in the fleet. 4 

The captain said she had once gone at the 
rate of thirteen knots, which is accounted thir- 
teen miles per hour. We had on board, as a 
passenger, Captain Kennedy, of the Navy, who 
contended that it was impossible, and that no 
ship ever sailed so fast, and that there must 
have been some error in the division of the 
log-line, or some mistake in heaving the log.’ 
A wager ensu’d between the two captains, to 
be decided when there should be sufficient 
wind. Kennedy thereupon examin’d rigor- 
ously the log-line, and, being satisfiid with 
that, he determin’d to throw the log himself. 
Accordingly some days after, when the wind 
blew very fair and fresh, and the captain of 
the paquet, Lutwidge, said he believ’d she 
then went at the rate of thirteen knots, Ken- 
nedy made the experiment, and own’d his 
wager lost. 

The above fact I give fot the sake of the 
following observation. It has been remark’d, 
as an imperfection in the art of ship-building, 
that it can never be known, till she is tried, 


1A piece of wood shaped and weighted so as to keep it stable 
when in the water. To this is attached a line knotted at regular 
distances. By these devices it is possible to tell the speed of a ship. 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 311 


whether a new ship will or will not be a 
good sailer; for that the model of a good-sailing 
ship has been exactly follow’d in a new one, 
which has prov’d, on the contrary, remarka- 
bly dull. I apprehend that this may partly be 
‘ occasion’d by the different opinions of seamen 
respecting the modes of lading, rigging, and 
sailing of a ship; each has his system; and the 
same vessel, laden by the judgment and orders 
of one captain, shall sail better or worse than 
when by the orders of another. Besides, it 
scarce ever happens that a ship is form’d, fit- 
ted for the sea, and sail’d by the same person. 
One man builds the hull, another rigs her, a 
third lades and sails her. No one of these has 
the advantage of knowing all the ideas and ex- 
perience of the others, and, therefore, cannot 
draw just conclusions from a combination of the 
whole. 

Even in the simple operation of sailing when 
at sea, I have often observ’d different judg- 
ments in the officers who commanded the suc- 
cessive watches, the wind being the same. 
One would have the sails trimm’d sharper or 
flatter than another, so that they seem’d to 
have no certain rule to govern by. Yet I 
think a set of experiments might be instituted; 
first, to determine the most proper form of 


312 FRANKLUIN’S AUTOBIOGRATAY 


the hull for swift sailing; next, the best dimen- 
sions and properest place for the masts; then 
the form and quantity of sails, and their posi- 
tion, as the wind may be; and, lastly, the dis- 
position of the lading. This is an age of ex- 
periments, and I think a set accurately made 
and combin’d would be of great use.. | am 
persuaded, therefore, that ere long some in- 


genious philosopher will undertake it, to 


whom I wish success. 


We were several times chas’d in our pas- 
sage, but out-sail’d every thing, and in thirty 
days had soundings. We had a good observa- 
tion, and the captain judg’d himself so near 
our port, Falmouth, that, if we made a good 
run in the night, we might be off the mouth 
of that harbor in the morning, and by run- 
ning in the night might escape the notice of 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 313 


the enemy’s privateers, who often cruis’d near 
the entrance of the channel. Accordingly, all 
the sail was set that we could possibly make, 
and the wind being very fresh and fair, we 
went right before it, and made great way. 
The captain, after his observation, shap’d his 
course, as he thought, so as to pass wide of 
the Scilly Isles;. but it seems there is some- 
dimes a strong indraught setting up St. 
George’s Channel, which deceives seamen and 
caused the loss of Sir Cloudesley Shovel’s 
squadron. This indraught was probably the 
cause of what happened to us. 

We had a watchman plac’d in the bow, to 
whom they often called, “ Look well out before 
there,’ and he as often answered, “ dy, ay’; 
but perhaps had his eyes shut, and was half 
asleep at the time, they sometimes answering, 
as is said, mechanically; for he did not see a 
light just before us, which had been hid by 
the studding-sails from the man at the helm, 
and from the rest of the watch, but by an ac- 
cidental yaw of the ship was discover’d, and 
occasion’d a great alarm, we being very near 
it, the light appearing to me as big as a cart- 
wheel. It was midnight, and our captain fast 
asleep; but Captain Kennedy, jumping upon 
deck, and seeing the danger, ordered the ship 


314 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


to wear round, all sails standing; an operation 
dangerous to the masts, but it carried us clear, 
and we escaped shipwreck, for we were 
running right upon the rocks on which the 
lighthouse was erected. This deliverance im- 
pressed me strongly with the utility of light- 
houses, and made me resolve to encourage the 
building more of them in America if I should 
live to return there. 

In the morning it was found by the sound- 
ings, etc., that we were near our port, but a 
thick fog hid the land from our sight. About 
nine o’clock the fog began to rise, and seem’d 
to be lifted up from the water like the curtain 
at a play-house, discovering underneath, the 
town of Falmouth, the vessels in its harbor, 
and the fields that surrounded it. This was a 
most pleasing spectacle to those who had been 
so long without any other prospects than the 
uniform view of a vacant ocean, and it gave 
us the more pleasure as we were now free 
from the anxieties which the state of war oc- 
casion’d, 

I set out immediately, with my son, for Lon- 
don, and we only stopt a little by the way to 
view Stonehenge* on Salisbury Plain, and 


1A celebrated prehistoric ruin, probably of a temple built by 
the early Britons, near Salisbury, England. It consists of inner 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


Lord Pembroke’s house and gardens, with -his 
very curious antiquities at Wilton. We ar- 
rived in London the 27th of July, 1757.” 

As soon as I was settled in a lodging Mr. 
Charles had provided for me, I went to visit 
Dr. Fothergill, to whom I was strongly recom- 
mended, and whose counsel respecting my 
proceedings I was advis’d to obtain. He was 
against an immediate complaint to govern- 
ment, and thought the proprietaries should 
first be personally appli’d to, who might possi- 
bly be induc’d by the interposition and persua- 
sion of some.private friends, to accommodate 
matters amicably. I then waited on my old 
friend and correspondent, Mr. Peter Collinson, 
who told me that John Hanbury, the great 
Virginia merchant, had requested to be in- 
formed when I should arrive, that he might 
carry me to Lord Granville’s,> who was then 
President of the Council and wished to see me 
as soon as possible. I agreed to go with him 


and outer circles of enormous stones, some of which are con- 
nected by stone slabs. 

*“ Here terminates the Autobiography, as published by Wm. 
Temple Franklin and his successors. What follows was written 
in the last year of Dr. Franklin’s life, and was never before printed 
in English.’—Mr. Bigelow’s note in his edition of 1868. 

* George Granville or Grenville (1712-1770). As English premier 
from 1763 to 1765, he introduced the direct taxation of the Ameri- 
can Colonies and has sometimes been called the immediate cause 
of the Revolution. 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


the next morning. Accordingly Mr. Hanbury 
called for me and took me in his carriage to 
that nobleman’s, who receiv’d me with great 
civility; and after some questions respecting 
the present state of affairs in America and dis- 
course thereupon, he said to me: “ You Ameri- 
cans have wrong ideas of the nature of your 
constitution; you contend that the king’s in- 
structions to his governors are not laws, and 
_think yourselves at liberty to regard or disre- 
gard them at your own discretion. But those 
instructions are not like the pocket instruc- 
tions given to a minister going abroad, for 
regulating his conduct in some trifling point 
of ceremony. They are first drawn up by 
judges learned in the laws; they are then con- 
sidered, debated, and perhaps amended in 
Council, after which they are signed by the 
king. They are then, so far as they relate to 
you, the /aw of the land, for the king is the 
LEGISLATOR OF THE COLONIES,”* I told his 
lordship this was new doctrine to me. I had 
always understood from our charters that our 


1 This whole passage shows how hopelessly divergent were the 
English and American views on the relations between the mother 
country and her colonies. Grenville here made clear that the Ameri- 
cans were to have no voice in making or amending their laws. 
Parliament and the king were to have absolute power over the 
colonies. No wonder Franklin was alarmed by this new doctrine. 


PRANEBKDIN’S*AUTOBIOGRAPHY ’ 317 


laws were to be made by our Assemblies, to 
be presented indeed to the king for his royal 
assent, but that being once given the king 
could not repeal or alter them. And as the 
Assemblies could not make permanent laws 
without his assent, so neither could he make 
a law for them without theirs. He assur’d me 
I was totally mistaken. I did not think so, 
however, and -his lordship’s conversation hav- 
ing a little alarm’d me as to what might be 
the sentiments of the court concerning us, I 
wrote it down as-soon as I return’d to my 
lodgings. I recollected that about 20 years 
before, a clause in a bill brought into Parlia- 
ment by the ministry had propos’d to make 
. the king’s instructions laws in the colonies, 
but the clause was thrown out by the Com- 
mons, for which we adored them as our 
friends and friends of liberty, till by their con- 
duct towards us in 1765 it seem’d that they 
had refus’d that point of sovereignty to the 
king only that they might reserve it for them- 
selves. 

After some days, Dr. Fothergill having 


With his keen insight into human nature and his consequent 
knowledge of American character, he foresaw the inevitable result 
of such an attitude on the part of England. This conversation 
with Grenville makes these last pages of the Autobiography one 
of its most important parts. 


318 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


spoken to the proprietaries, they agreed to a 
meeting with me at Mr. T. Penn’s house in 
Spring Garden. The conversation at first con- 
sisted of mutual declarations of disposition to 
reasonable accommodations, but I suppose each 
party had its own ideas of what should be 
meant by reasonable. We then went into con- 
sideration of our several points of complaint, 
which I enumerated. The proprietaries justi- 
fy’d their conduct as well as they could, and 
I the Assembly’s. We now appeared very 
wide, and so far from each other in our opin- 
ions as to discourage all hope of agreement. 
However, it was concluded that I should give 
them the heads of our complaints in writing, 
and they promis’d then to consider them. I 
did so soon after, but they put the paper into 
the hands of their solicitor, Ferdinand John 
Paris, who managed for them all their law 
_ business in their great suit with the neighbour- 
ing proprietary of Maryland, Lord Baltimore, 
which had subsisted 70 years, and wrote for 
them all their papers and messages in their 
dispute with the Assembly. He was a proud, 
angry man, and as I had occasionally in the 
answers of the Assembly treated his papers 
with some severity, they being really weak in 
point of argument and haughty in expression, 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 319 


he had conceived a mortal enmity to me, 
which discovering itself whenever we met, I 
declin’d the proprietary’s proposal that he and 
I should discuss the heads of complaint be- 
tween our two selves, and refus’d treating 
with anyone but them. They then by his ad- 
vice put the paper into the hands of the At- 
torney and Solicitor-General for their opinion 
and counsel upon it, where it lay unanswered 
a year wanting eight. days, during which time 
I made frequent demands of an answer from 
the proprietaries, but without obtaining any 
other than that they had not yet received the 
opinion of the Attorney and Solicitor-General. 
What it was when they did receive it I never 
learnt, for they did not communicate it to me, 
but sent a long message to the Assembly 
drawn and signed by Paris, reciting my paper, 
complaining of its want of formality, as a 
rudeness on my part, and giving a flimsy justi- 
fication of their conduct, adding that they 
should be willing to:accommodate matters if the 
Assembly would send out some person of can- 
dour to treat with them for that purpose, in- 
timating thereby that I was not such. 

The want of formality or rudeness was, 
probably, my not having address’d the paper 
to them with their assum’d titles of True and 


320 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


Absolute Proprietaries of the Province of 
Pennsylvania, which I omitted as not thinking 
it necessary in a paper, the intention of which 
was only to reduce to a certainty by writing, 
what in conversation I had delivered viva voce. 
But during this delay, the Assembly having 
prevailed with Gov’r Denny to pass an act 
taxing the proprietary estate in common with 
the estates of the people, which was the grand 
point in dispute, they omitted answering the 
message. | 
When this act however came over, the pro- 
prietaries, counselled by Paris, determined -to 
oppose its receiving the royal assent. Accord-° 
ingly they petition’d the king in Council, and 
a hearing was appointed in which two lawyers 
were employ’d by them against the act, and 
two by me in support of it. They alledg’d 
that the act was intended to load the pro- 
prietary estate in order to spare those of the 
people, and that if it were suffer’d to continue 
in force, and the proprietaries, who were in 
odium with the people, left to their mercy in 
proportioning the taxes, they would inevitably 
be ruined. We reply’d that the act had no 
such intention, and would have no such effect. 
That the assessors were. honest and discreet 
men under an oath to assess fairly and equita- 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 321 


bly, and that any advantage each of them 
might expect in lessening his own tax by 
augmenting that of the proprietaries was too 
trifling to induce them to perjure themselves. 
This is the purport of what I remember as 
urged by both sides, except that we insisted 
strongly on the mischievous consequences 
miat) must) attend’ -a’ repeal, for’ that’ the 
money, £100,000, being printed and given to 
the king’s use, expended in his service, and 
now spread among the people, the repeal 
would strike it dead in their hands to the ruin 
of many, and the total discouragement of fu- 
ture grants, and: the selfishness of the pro- 
prietors in soliciting such a general catas- 
trophe, merely from a groundless fear of their 
estate being taxed too highly, was insisted on 
in the strongest terms. On this, Lord Mans- 
field, one of the counsel, rose, and beckoning 
me took me into the clerk’s chamber, while 
the lawyers were pleading, and asked me if I 
was really of opinion that no injury would be 
done the proprietary estate in the execution of 
the act. I said certainly. “Then,” says he, 
“you can have little objection to enter into an 
engagement to assure’ that point.” I. an- 
merc, None at ‘all.’ )° He then: ‘calldiin 
Paris, and after some discourse, his lordship’s 


322 FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


proposition was accepted on both sides; a 
paper to the purpose was drawn up by the. 
Clerk of the Council, which I sign’d with Mr. 
Charles, who was also an Agent of the Prov- 
ince for ‘their’ ordinary affairs, when Lord 
Mansfield returned to the Council Chamber, © 
where finally the law was allowed to pass. 
Some changes were however recommended 
and we also engaged they should be made by 
a subsequent law, but the Assembly did not 
think them necessary; for one year’s tax hav- 
- ing been levied by the act before the order of 
Council arrived, they appointed a committee 
to examine the proceedings of the assessors, 
and on this committee they put several par- 
ticular friends of the proprietaries. After a 
full enquiry, they unanimously sign’d a report — 
that they found the tax had been assess’d with 
perfect equity. — | 

The Assembly looked into my entering into 
the first part of the engagement, as an essen- 
tial service to the Province, since it secured 
the credit of the paper money then spread 
over all the country. They gave me their 
thanks in form when I return’d. But the pro- 
prietaries were enraged at Governor Denny 
for having pass’d the act, and turn’d him out 
with threats of suing him for breach of in- 


FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 323 


structions which he had given. bond to ob- 
“serve. He, however, having done it at the in- 
stance of the General, and for His Majesty’s 
service, and having some powerful interest at 
court, despis’d the threats and they were 
never put in execution. . . . [unfinished] 


PUBRCVRIOAL  KUDE 
To Peter CoLuINson 


, [Philadelphia], Oct. 19, 1752. 
SIR, 

As frequent mention is made in public papers 
from Europe of the success of the Philadelphia 
experiment for drawing the electric fire from 
clouds by means of pointed rods of iron erected 
on high buildings, &c., it may be agreeable to 
the curious to be informed, that the same ex- 
periment has succeeded in Philadelphia, though 
made in a different and more easy manner, 
which is as follows: | 

Make a small cross of two light strips of cedar, 
the arms so long as to reach to the four corners 
of a large, thin silk handkerchief when extended; 
tie the corners of the handkerchief to the ex- 
tremities of the cross, so you have the body of 
a kite; which being properly accommodated 
with a tail, loop, and string, will rise in the air, 
like those made of paper; but this being of silk, 
is fitter to bear the wet and wind of a thunder- 
gust without tearing. To the top of the upright 


stick of the cross is to be fixed a very sharp- 
327 


a : ELECTRICAL KITE 


pointed v wire, rising a foot or more above the 
wood. To the end of the twine, next the hand, 
is to be tied a silk ribbon, and where the silk and 
twine join, a key may be fastened. This kite is 
to be raised when a thunder-gust appears to be 
coming on, and the person who holds the string 
must stand within a door or window, or under 
some cover, so that the silk ribbon may not 
be wet; and care must be taken that the twine 
does not touch the frame of the door or window. 
As soon as any of the thunder clouds come over 
the kite, the pointed wire will draw the electric 
fire from them, and the kite, with all the twine, 
will be electrified, and the loose filaments of the 
twine will stand out every way and be attracted 
by an approaching finger. And when the rain 
has wet the kite and twine, so that it can con- 
duct the electric fire freely, you will find it 
stream out plentifully from the key on the ap- 
proach of your knuckle. At this key the phial 
may be charged; and from electric fire thus ob- 
tained, spirits may be kindled, and all the elec- 
tric experiments be performed, which are 
usually done by the help of a rubbed glass globe 
or tube, and thereby the sameness of the electric 
matter with that of ee completely demon- 
strated. 
B. FRANKLIN, 


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From ‘‘ Father Abraham’s Speech,”1760. Reproduced from 
a copy at the New York Public Library. 


THE WAY TO WEALTH 


(From “ Father Abraham’s Speech,” forming 
the preface to Poor Richard’s Almanac for 1758.) 


It would be thought a hard Government that 
should tax its People one-tenth Part of their 
Time, to be employed in its Service. But Jdle- 
ness taxes many of us much more, if we reckon 
_all.that-1s-spent in_absolute Sloth, or doing of 
nothing, with that which is spent in idle Em- 
ployments er Amusements, that amount to 

nothing. Cloth, by bringing on Diseases, abso- 
lutely shortens Life. Sloth, like Rust, consumes 
faster than Labor wears; while the used key is al- 
ways bright, as Poor Richard says. But dost thou 
love Life, then do not squander Time, for that’s 
the stuff Life 1s made of, as Poor Richard says. 
_ How much more than is necessary do we spend 

in sleep, forgetting that The sleeping Fox catches 
no Poultry, and that There will: be sleeping 
enough in the Grave, as Poor Richard 
says. 
_ If Time be of all Things the most precious, 


wasting Time must be, as Poor Richard says, the 
331 


ane THE WAY TO WEALTH 


greatest Prodigality, since, as he elsewhere tells 
us, Lost Time 1s never found again; and what we 
call Time enough, always proves little enough: 
Let us then up and be doing, and doing to the 
Purpose; so by Diligence shall we do more with. 
less Perplexity. Sloth makes all Things difficult, 
but Industry all easy, as Poor Richard says; and 
He that riseth late must trot all Day, and shall 
scarce overtake his Business at Night; while Lazt-— 
ness travels so slowly, that Poverty soon overtakes ‘ 
him, as we read in Poor Richard, who adds, 
Drive thy Business, let not that drive thee; and — 
Early to Bed, and early to rise, makes a Man 
healthy, wealthy, and wise. 

Industry, need not wish, and he that lives ioe 
Hope will die fasting. 

There are no Gains without Pains, 

“He that hath a Trade hath an 2 Estate; and he. 

| ph hath a Calling, hath an Office of Profit and 
Honor; but then the Trade must be worked at, 
and the Calling well followed, or neither the 
Estate nor the Office will enable us to pay our 
Taxes. 
“What though you have found no Treasure, 
nor has any rich Relation left you a Legacy, 
Diligence is the Mother of Good-luck, as Poor 
Richard says, and God. gives all Things to In- 
wenn 


— 


VEE WAY eT O:- WEAIT H 333 


One To-day is worth two To-morrows, and far- 
ther, Have you somewhat to do To-morrow, do it 
To-day. 

If you were a Servant, would you not be 
ashamed that a good Master should catch you 
idle? Are you then your own Master, be 
ashamed to catch yourself idle. 

Stick to it steadily; and you will see great 
Effects, for Constant Dropping wears away 
Stones, and by Diligence and Patience the Mouse 
ate in two the Cable; and Little Strokes fell great 
Oaks. 

Methinks I hear some of you say, Must a Man 
afford himself no Leisure? I will tell thee, my 
friend, what Poor Richard says, Employ thy 
Time well, if thou meanest to gain Leisure; and, 
since thou art not sure of a Minute, throw not 
away an Hour. Leisure, is Time for doing some- 
thing useful; this Leisure the diligent Man will 
obtain, but the lazy Man never; so that, as Poor 
Richard says, A Life of Leisure and a . Life of 
Laziness are two things. 

Keep thy Shop, and thy Shop will keep thee; 
and again, Jf you would have your business done, 
go; if not, send. 

If you would have a faithful Servant, and one 
that you like, serve yourself. 

_A little Neglect may breed great Mischief; 


~. 


334 THE WAY TO WEALTSA , 


adding, for want of a Nail the Shoe was lost; for 
want of a Shoe the Horse was lost; and for want 
of a Horse the Rider was lost, being overtaken and 
slain by the Enemy, all for the want of Care about 
a Horse-shoe Nail. | 

So much for Industry, my Friends, and Atten- 
tion to one’s own Business; but to these we must 
add Frugality, q 

What maintains one Vice, would bring up two 
Children. You may think perhaps, that a little 
Tea, or a little Punch now and then, Diet a /ittle 
more costly, Clothes a /itéle finer, and a little En- 
tertainment now and then, can be no great Mat- 
ter; but remember what Poor Richard says, 
Many a Little makes a Mickle. 

| Beware of little expenses, A small Leak will 
sink a great Ship; and again, W ho Dainties love, 
shall Beggars prove; and moreover, Fools make 
Feasts, and wise Men eat them. 

Buy what thou hast no Need of, and ere lake | 
thou shalt sell thy Necessartes. 
If you would know the Value of Mena go and 
try to borrow some, for, he that goes a borrowing a 
goes a sorrowing. 

The second Vice is Lying, the frst i is running — 
in Debt. 

Lying rides upon Debt’s Back. | 

Poverty often deprives a Man of all Spirit ‘ang 4 


THE WAY TO WEALTH 335 


Virtue: ’T1s hard for an empty Bag to stand up- 
right. 

And now to conclude, Experience keeps a dear 
School, but Fools will learn in no other, and 
scarce in that, for it is true, we may give Advice, 
but we cannot give Conduct, as Poor Richard 
says: However, remember this, They that won't 
be counseled, can’t be helped, as ; Poor Richard 
says: and farther, That 1f you will not hear Rea- 
son, she'll surely rap your Knuckles. 


THE WHISTLE 


To MADAME BRILLON 


Passy, November 10, 1779. 

‘Tam charmed with your description of Para- 
dise, and with your plan of living there; and I 
approve much of your conclusion, that, in the 
meantime, we should draw all the good we can 
from this world. In my opinion, we might all 
draw more good from it than we do, and suffer — 
less evil, if we would take care not to give too 
‘much for whistles. For to me it seems, that 
most of the unhappy people we meet with, are 
become so by neglect of that caution. 

You ask what I mean? You love stories, and 
will excuse my telling one of myself. 

When I was a child of seven year old, my 
friends, on a holiday, filled my pocket with cop- 
pers. I went directly to a shop where they sold 
toys for children; and being charmed with the 
sound of a whistle, that I met by the way in the 
hands of another boy, I voluntarily offered and 
_ gave all my money for one. I then came home, — 
and went whistling all over the house, much 


pleased with my whzstle, but disturbing all the 
336 


THE WHISTLE 337 


family. My brothers, and sisters, and cousins, 
understanding the bargain I had made, told me 
I had given four times as much for it as it was 
worth; put me in mind what good things I 
might have bought with the rest of the money; 
and laughed at me so much for my folly, that I 
cried with vexation; and the reflection gave me 
more chagrin than the whistle gave me pleasure. 

This, however, was afterwards of use to me, 
the impression continuing on my mind; so that 
often, when I was tempted to buy some unnec- 
essary thing, I said to myself, Don’t give too 
much for the whistle; and I saved my money. 

As I grew up, came into the world, and ob- 
served the actions of men, I thought I met with’ 
many, very many, who gave too much for the 
whistle. 

When I saw one too ambitious of court favor, 
sacrificing his time in attendance on levees, his 
repose, his liberty, his virtue, and perhaps his 
friends, to attain it, I have said to myself, Thzs 
man gives too much for his whistle. 

When I saw another fond of popularity, con- 
stantly employing himself in political bustles, 
neglecting his own affairs, and ruining them by 
neglect, He pays, indeed, said I, too much for his 
whistle. eee 

If I knew a miser who gave up every kind of 


338 THE WHISTLE 


comfortable living, all the pleasure of doing — 
good to others, all the esteem of his fellow citi- 
zens, and the joys of benevolent friendship, for 
the sake of accumulating wealth, Poor man, said 
I, you pay too much for your whistle. | 
When I met with a man of pleasure, sacrific- 
ing every laudable improvement of the mind, or 
of his fortune, to mere corporeal sensations, and 
ruining his health in their pursuit, Mistaken man, 
said I, you are providing pain for yourself, instead 
of pleasure; you give too much for your whistle. 
If I see one fond of appearance, or fine clothes, 
fine houses, fine furniture, fine equipages, all 
above his fortune, for which he contracts debts, 
and ends his career in a prison, Alas! say I,. he 
has paid dear, very dear, for his whistle. | 
When I see a beautiful, sweet-tempered girl 
married to an ill-natured brute of a husband, ~ 
What a pity, say 1, that she should pay so much — 
for a whistle! ’ 
In short, I conceive that great part of the 
miseries of mankind are brought upon them by 
the false estimates they have made of the value 
of things, and by their giving too much for their 
whistles. | 
Yet I ought to have charity for these unhappy 
people, when [I consider, that, with all this wis- 
dom of which I am boasting, there are certain 


THE WHISTLE 339 


things in the world so tempting, for example, 
the apples of King John, which happily are not 
to be bought; for if they were put to sale by 
auction, I might very easily be led to ruin my- 
self in the purchase, and find that I had once 
more given too much for the whistle. 

Adieu, my.dear friend, and believe me ever 
yours very sincerely and with unalterable affec- 
tion, 


B. FRANKLIN. 


A LETTER TO SAMUEL MATHER 


Passy, May 12, 1784. 

REVD SIR, | 

It is now more than 60 years since I left Bos- 
ton, but I remember well both your father and 
grandfather, having heard them both in the 
pulpit, and seen them in their houses. The last 
time I saw your father was in the beginning of 
1724, when I visited him after my first trip to 
Pennsylvania. He received me in his library, and 
on my taking leave showed me a shorter way out 
of the house through a narrow passage, which 
was crossed by a beam overhead. We were still 
talking as I withdrew, he accompanying me be- 


hind, and I turning partly towards him, when _ 


he said hastily, “ Stoop, stoop!” I did not under- 
stand him, till I felt my head hit against the 
beam. He was a man that never missed any 
occasion of giving instruction, and upon this he 
said to me, “ You are young, and have the world 
before you; stoop as you go through it, and you 
will miss many hard thumps.” This advice, thus 


beat into my head, has frequently been of use 
340 


A LETTER TO SAMUEL MATHER 341 


to me; and I often think of it, when I see pride 
mortified, and misfortunes brought upon people 
by their carrying their heads too high. 

B. FRANKLIN. 


THE END 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


THE last and most complete edition of Franklin’s 
works is that by the late Professor Albert H. Smyth, 
published in ten volumes by the Macmillan Company, 
New York, under the title, The Writings of Benjamin. 
Franklin. The other standard edition is the Works of 
Benjamin Franklin by John Bigelow (New York, 1887). 
Mr. Bigelow’s first edition of the Autobiography in one 
volume was published by the J. B. Lippincott Company 
of Philadelphia in 1868. The life of Franklin as a 
writer is well treated by J. B. McMaster in a volume 
of The American Men of Letters Series; his life as a 
statesman and diplomat, by J. T. Morse, American 
Statesmen, Series, one volume; Houghton, Mifflin Com- 
pany publish both books. A more exhaustive account of 
the life and times of Franklin may be found in James 
Parton’s Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin (2 vols., 
New York, 1864). Paul Leicester Ford’s The Many- 
Sided Franklin is a most chatty and readable book, 
replete with anecdotes and excellently and fully illus- 
trated. An excellent criticism by Woodrow Wilson 
introduces an edition of the Autobiography in The 
Century Classics (Century Co., New York, 1go01). In- 
teresting magazine articles are those of E. E. Hale, 
Christian Examiner, 1xxi, 447; W. P. Trent, McClure’s 
Magazine, viii, 273; John Hay, The Century Magazine, 
Ixxi, 447. 

See also the histories of American literature by C. F. 

343 | 


344 - BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


Richardson, Moses Coit Tyler, Brander Matthews, John 
Nichol, and Barrett Wendell, as well as the various en- 
cyclopedias. An excellent bibliography of Franklin is 
that of Paul Leicester Ford, entitled 4 List of Books 
Written by, or Relating to Benjamin Franklin (New © 


York, 1889). 
The following list of Franklin’s works contains the 
more interesting publications, together with the dates of 


first issue.. 


1722. Dogood Papers. 
Letters in the style of Addison’s Spectator, contributed to 
James Franklin’s newspaper and signed “Silence Do- 
good.” 


1729. The Busybody. 
A series of essays published in Bradford’s Philadelphia 
Weekly Mercury, six of which only are ascribed to Frank- 
lin. They are essays on morality, philosophy and ons: 
similar to the Dogood Papers. 


1729. A Modest Enquiry into the Nature and N ecessity of a Paper 
Currency. 


1732. Prefaces to Poor Richard's Almanac. 

to Among these are Mi ints for those that would be Rich, 1737; 

1757. and Plan for saving one hundred thousand pounds to New 
Jersey, 1756. 


1743. A Proposal for Promoting Useful Knowledge Among the 
British Plantations in America. 
“This paper appears to contafn the first” suggestion, in 
ues ee form, for an American Philosophical Society.” 
parks 


1744. An Account of the New Invented Pennsylvania Fire-Places. 


1749. Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pennsyl- 
vania, 
Contains the plan for the school which later became the 
_ University of Pennsylvania. 


1752. Electrical Kite. 
A description of the famous kite experiment, first written in 
a letter to Peter Collinson, dated Oct. 19, 1752, which was 
published later in the same year in The Gentleman’s Maga- 
Zine. 


1754. 


1755. 


1758. 


1760. 


1760. 


1764. 


1766. 


1773. 


1773. 


1777. 


1782. 
1782, 


1785. 
1786. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 34.5 


Plan of Union. : 
A plan for the union of the colonies presented to the 
colonial convention at Albany. 


A Dialogue Between X, Y and Z. 
An appeal to enlist in the provincial army for the defense 
of Pennsylvania. 


Father Abraham’s Speech. 
Published as a preface to Poor Richard’s Almanac and 
gathering into one writing the maxims of Poor Richard, 
which had already appeared in previous numbers of the 
Almanac. The Speech was afterwards published in pam- 
phlet form as the Way to Wealth. 


Of the Means of disposing the Enemy to Peace. 
A satirical plea for the prosecution of the war against 
France. 


The Interest of Great Britain Considered, with regard to her 
Colonies, and the Acquisitions of Canada and Guadaloupe. 


Cool Thoughts on the Present Situation of eur Public Affairs. 
A pamphlet favoring a Royal Government for Pennsylvania 
in exchange for that of the Proprietors. 


The Examination of Doctor Benjamin Franklin, etc., in The 
British House of Commons, Relative to The Repeal of The 
American Stamp Act. 


Rules by which A Great Empire May Be Reduced to a 
Small One. 
Some twenty satirical rules embodying the line of conduct 
England was pursuing with America, 


An Edict of The King of Prussia. 
A satire in which the King of Prussia was made to treat 
England as England was treating America because England 
was originally settled by Germans. 


Comparison of Great Britain and the United States in Regard 
to the Basis of.Credit in The Two Countries. 
One of several similar pamphlets written to effect loans 
for the American cause. 


On the Theory of the Earth. 
The best of Franklin’s papers on geology. 


Letter purporting to emanate from a petty German Prince 
and to be addressed to his officer in Command in America. 


On the Causes and Cure of Smoky Chimneys. 


Retort Courteous. 

Sending Felons to America. 
Answers to the British clamor for the payment of Amer- 
ican debts. 


346 - BIBLIOGRAPHY 


1789. Address to the Public from the Pennsylvania Society for 
Promoting Abolition of Slavery. 


1789. An Account of the Supremest Court of J udicature in Pennsyl- 
vania, vis. The Court of the Press. 


1790. Martin’s Account of his Consulship. 
A parody of a pto-slavery speech in Congress. 


1791. Autobiography. 
The first edition. 


1818. Bagatelles. 


The Bagatelles were first published in 1818 in William 
Temple Franklin’s edition of his grandfather’s works. The 
following are the most famous of these essays and the 
dates when they were written: 
1774? A Parable Against Persecution. 
Franklin called this the LI Chapter of Genesis. 
1774? A Parable on Brotherly Love. 
1778. The Ephemera, an Emblem of Human Life. 
A new rendition of an are essay on Human 
Vanity. 
1779. The SEiey of the Whistle. 
1779? The Levee. 
1779? Proposed New Version of the Bible. 
Part of the first chapter of Job modernized. 
(1779. Published) The Morals of Chess. 
1780? The Handsome and Deformed Leg. 
1780. Dialogue between Franklin and the Gout. — 
(Published in 1802.) 


1802. A Petition of the Left Hand. 
1806. The Art of Procuring Pleasant Dreams. 


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